Square Enix explains why Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is coming to Nintendo Switch 2 so soon after Remake

Square Enix has spoken about the quick turnaround between the launches of Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Rebirth on Nintendo Switch 2.

It’s only been a few months since we saw Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade on Nintendo’s console. However, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is just on the horizon – specifically June 4. The wait in between the two RPGs comes down to just a little over four months.

In an interview with The Outer Haven, director Naoki Hamaguchi spoke about the release approach. He shared the following:

“One of the biggest motivations was that we didn’t want the excitement of those who played Remake on the Switch 2 to end there.

This project was designed as a trilogy, so if too much time passes between entries, the experience would inevitably feel fragmented. We wanted to avoid that. Furthermore, another big point was that, from a development standpoint, the foundation and insights we gained from porting Remake on the Switch 2 carried over directly to Rebirth . Because of this, this decision didn’t feel rushed – it simply felt like the right move at the right time.”

Hamaguchi also spoke about developing the Nintendo Switch 2 version of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. He had “concerns” about the process since Rebirth “is more open, with a much larger scale of fields and heavier processing loads” compared to Remake. Hamaguchi added: “At first, we were very cognizant of the question surrounding whether we could truly make the experience work on the Switch 2, which assumes handheld play.”

The good news is that those initial concerns quickly went away. Hamaguchi noted the following about how development went on:

“As development progressed, however, we were able to gain confidence in how much we could achieve with the right amount of ingenuity, and leveraged the optimization insights we gained through Remake as we reassessed our rendering techniques, lighting, and background streaming for Rebirth. Ultimately, this process wasn’t about ‘pulling off a miracle,’ but rather about fleshing out ideas on how we could make the experience work until the very end. Undergoing this process made it very clear that we could achieve the same thing for the third installment.”

Final Fantasy Remake Part 3 will close out the trilogy in the near future. Hamaguchi spoke about why the Nintendo Switch 2 version of that game won’t be compromised, which you can find here.