"I Did My Best": Final Fantasy 7 Revelation Director Explains Why the Disc Only Includes Part of the Game

Final Fantasy VII Revelation director Naoki Hamaguchi gave two interviews this week about how people buy and play games now. He told Radio Times why the game's physical edition looks the way it does, and he explained to Edge magazine why the trilogy's final part will launch on every platform at once.

The physical version of Revelation ships on a single disc, but that disc won't get you through the game. It holds only the opening, and you'll download the rest.

For Final Fantasy 7 Revelation, we've been able to preserve a physical edition. You can't play the entire game on that disc, but it's got the opening - a sort of key disc and then after that, it will ask you to download the rest.

Hamaguchi says he gets why players are upset. He grew up buying games on disc and still picks up physical copies of the titles he cares about most. He even asks friends in the industry to sign copies of games they worked on.

I do really like and appreciate physical media. I see a lot of people on social media saying, 'No disc, no purchase,' and I understand where they're coming from.

He also pointed out that the release format isn't his call alone. As director, he handles what goes into the game. The publishing team decides how it's sold.

The product line-up, the SKUs, how it's going on sale; that is the responsibility of the publishing team. So, my authority there is somewhat limited.

Hamaguchi says he pushed for a physical edition throughout development, but the team couldn't get the full game onto a disc.

In this day and age, as we've been talking about, there's a lot of pressure for disc-less editions, digital editions, and I used my position to put forth an argument for the physical version as much as possible. I completely understand there are those out there who may not really agree with that direction or approve of that direction. But I would just say that I hope you understand that I completely see where you're coming from, and that I did my best.

He expects physical media to stick around in some form, though discs may vanish. Before long, a game box might hold nothing but a download code. PlayStation is rumored to be planning to end physical disc production in 2028.

Hamaguchi also addressed the end of PlayStation exclusivity. Remake and Rebirth both launched on PlayStation first. Revelation will be the first game in the series to arrive on every platform on day one. Hamaguchi called this an inevitable result of how people play today, since players are "no longer tied to a single piece of hardware." He doesn't think raw power will define the next generation of AAA games:

I believe that what will be important in future triple-A game development is not how high-performance an environment we can use, but rather how widely we can deliver the core of the same experience across different environments.

Final Fantasy VII Revelation wraps up the remake trilogy that started with Final Fantasy VII Remake in 2020. It launches April 8, 2027, on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch 2. Earlier reports put its size at around 200 GB and say it will get two DLCs.