What does it say? “We are working hard towards the 25th anniversary. Thank you for your support.” If you run the numbers again, you’ll realize that he’s referring to 2027 and almost certainly talking about Kingdom Hearts 4. What about this year? Your guess is as good as ours.

While this doesn’t necessarily mean no new details about the sequel in 2026, some fans aren’t taking it so well. In fact, some have pointed out the lack of communication over recent years. As noted by @ImanIman77502, “Telling me you’re working hard towards the 25th anniversary means we ain’t getting anything until the 25th anniversary. Which would be 5 YEARS after you initially announced it.”

@Uxian_’s post seems to share the same sentiment, posting a GIF of Mickey Mouse slicing an ultra-thin piece of bread. @YUNGJEFF was much more explicit, sharing an image of an emoji begging, perhaps for more details. Whichever way you want to slice it, there definitely hasn’t been much information on the sequel, even after all these years.

But hey, Kingdom Hearts 3 followed the same pattern for the longest time, and it was eventually released. Perhaps we’ll see a proper blowout next year. If nothing else, Nomura said last September that development is “progressing well and according to schedule,” so it’s certainly not in limbo. As always, stay tuned for more updates.

“So, the last update I had on it was that the game is still on ice,” he alleged in a new podcast episode with ModernVintageGamer. However, that doesn’t mean it’s cancelled. “Now, ‘on ice’ with Square Enix could mean they may return to it one day, but as far as I’ve heard, there’s been no new movement with it. Hopefully, one day Square Enix returns to it, and we may see a Final Fantasy 9 remake come to light.”

Rumors first emerged in 2023 courtesy of Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier and Giant Bomb’s Jeff Grubb. It was alleged around the same time as Final Fantasy Tactics Remaster, which became Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles (and won extensive critical acclaim while selling one million copies). However, an announcement for Final Fantasy 9 Remake is pending.

Whether it’s on the scale of Final Fantasy 7 Remake/Rebirth or something far less grand remains unknown, but there’s no denying fan interest. After all, Final Fantasy 9 launched in 2000 for PlayStation One, and is widely beloved by fans thanks to its characters, storytelling, and return to a more “traditional” format for the series. It even sold 8.9 million copies as of 2025.

With its character designer Toshiyuki Itahana departing Square Enix earlier this year, the project’s future is anyone’s guess. Regardless, stay tuned for updates.

“With the latest PSSR update, Silent Hill f now delivers an even smoother gameplay experience than before,” said Konami’s production team. “Fine details – from swaying blades of grass to shadows cast across the ground – are rendered with greater clarity, deepening immersion in the fog-shrouded Japan of the 1960s.” A short new trailer highlights the difference between the current PSSR and its upgraded version with the latter pretty much eliminating any flickering.

Ninja Theory head, Dom Matthews, noted the team’s excitement to collaborate with Sony while also being impressed by “the quality of particle effects with this latest update, helping to bring key gameplay moments to life through enhanced visuals.” Remedy’s graphical technical director, Tatu Aalto, also noted how the improved image upscaling resulted in “efficient stochastic sampling without sacrificing image stability” and how it “responds quickly to visibility changes in games, keeping motion clear while improving temporal stability.” The result is even “better, more stable image quality” in Control and Alan Wake 2.

Those worried that Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth on consoles would never fully depict the beauty of its characters’ hairstyles should also rejoice. Director Naoki Hamaguchi notes how “fine details such as character’s hair are naturally restored.” Of course, “less flickering and afterimage feeling” is also a bonus. You can also expect sharper edges for wildlife scenery in Nioh 3, whether it’s foliage or various flowers.

And while Capcom didn’t provide any additional comments on the technology, it will be available for Monster Hunter Wilds and Dragon’s Dogma 2. Resident Evil Requiem was the first title that leveraged Upgraded PSSR, and the results have been quite stunning thus far. Stay tuned for more details on other titles that will implement it in the coming weeks.

We see Max infiltrating a party hosted by Abraxas, a secret society at her university whose members seem to swear by anonymity and passwords to ensure that their activities remain under the radar. Of course, those efforts at staying hidden are no match for Max’s ability to rewind time, and since she isn’t working alone this time around, she uses those powers to help Chloe do her own thing. Thus far, it looks like your experience will depend on how well you utilise their individual strengths.

Life is Strange: Reunion closure to a story that began in the first title of the franchise, with Max and Chloe reuniting and working together to stop an inferno that threatens to envelop Caledon University. With its excellent visuals and a gameplay loop that’s going to bring some hard choices for you to make, this one is definitely among our most anticipated titles for the year.

Time will tell if this is a story worth experiencing, but for now, the trailer below has given us a reason to be optimistic. It releases for the PS5, PC, and Xbox Series X|S on March 26th.

Tiz and Agnès’ efforts to save the land of Luxendarc made quite a splash when the game made its way to the Switch 2 last year, and now those on other platforms can finally join in on the fun. It’s definitely an entertainer, with some turn-based battles that are going to require some strategic thinking on your part, and a story that’s quite charming and compelling enough to have you pouring hours into it.

Square Enix and Cattle Call were proud to showcase some excellent sales numbers for the Switch 2 version in the launch trailer, alongside the game’s revamped visuals and the many biomes you’re going to explore on your way to restoring the crystals of light. There’s a generous launch discount for you to take advantage of if you choose to join the daring duo.

Sadly, there’s no news of a PS5 version at the time of writing, but never say never. While the series’ future is currently up in the air, a Bravely Second HD Remaster surely wouldn’t be out of the question, right? Stay tuned for more updates in the meantime.

“[Wutai is] one of the main locations. Yuffie’s made a very prominent appearance, stating her case about her homeland. So if Wutai’s not featured, I think the fans are going to yell at me,” said Hamaguchi when asked about some of the ion-game locations. He also went on to confirm some of the other features, like expanding the flying capabilities of the Highwind.

“We want to expand on the gameplay experience,” he said. “Flying the Highwind is a very large part of the third installment. Let me leave it at that.” As for other details, Hamaguchi preferred to keep his cards close to his chest. While he didn’t confirm or deny the presence of the Chocobo breeding mechanic in Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3, he did note that the bird mounts will function differently when compared to Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.

“We didn’t want the three installments to be a reskinning of the same game over and over again,” Hamaguchi explained when discussing new gameplay elements coming to Remake Part 3. “We want to make sure we’re expanding with every installment in terms of scale, as well as retaining that freshness as you go into each installment.”

One of the bigger locations in the original Final Fantasy 7 was the Great Glacier area. In the third entry of the Remake trilogy, Hamaguchi noted that Rebirth ends up with players in the Forgotten City. If it follows the footsteps of the original, Remake Part 3 might also end up directly leading players to the Icicle Inn.

As for when Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3 will finally get revealed, Hamaguchi said that it is slated to happen some time this year. “I’m hoping it’s not going to be too far in the future,” he said, before also revealing that 95 percent of the development team of Rebirth is working on the third entry. “I think the number is closer to 95% of the Rebirth staff that stayed on for the third project,” he explained.

Back in January, Hamaguchi had confirmed that Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3 will see the return of one of its more popular minigames: Queen’s Blood. In an interview, he revealed that the new version of the card game will be a “powered-up version”.

“Queen’s Blood is a very popular and beloved minigame, and I believe a lot of people are still wanting something like that,” Hamaguchi said. “I want to expand on Queen’s Blood so that we are enhancing it, and giving you a more powered-up version of it when you see that third instalment… Queen’s Blood is still going to be available in the third instalment. We just want to expand on it.”

In the meantime, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth got confirmed for Nintendo Switch 2, with the development team targeting a steady frame rate of 30 FPS. It is slated for release on June 3rd.

In an interview with Automaton Media, when told that many probably perceive the higher version number to mean it’s “more advanced,” he said, “I think that’s mostly how the general public sees it, and I do believe it’s true. Around the time we began developing Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Unreal Engine 5 was just entering its pre-launch phase.

“What makes Unreal Engine 5 groundbreaking compared to Unreal Engine 4 are two features: Lumen, its lighting system (related article), and Nanite, which allows you to portray dense graphical detail (related article). These represent the current trend in graphics pipelines, and of course, such pipelines are important to us as well.

“However, if we had tied our development schedule and milestones too closely to Unreal Engine 5’s roadmap, we would have risked our own progress being stalled if the engine encountered any kind of delay. For that reason, we decided early on in development of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth to stick with Unreal Engine 4. We’re using a graphics pipeline built in-house, which also makes optimization and porting to various hardware more straightforward.”

There’s also the benefit that any experience accrued with Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth would lead to further refinements in Part 3. “So even for the final installment of the trilogy, rather than rebuilding our pipeline from scratch in Unreal Engine 5, it’s far more efficient for us to use Unreal Engine 4, which we already have a well-established pipeline for. This also allows us to further refine things based on the experience we accumulated with Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.

“With all of this in mind, we judged that continuing with Unreal Engine 4 would definitely lead to a better third installment for our customers. I never imagined it would become such a hot topic (laughs), though a lot of people took it quite positively, too.

“We’re using the know-how and development environment we cultivated with Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth as a base and further refining it to create the third game. In that sense, the quality will certainly not drop, and we’re working hard to deliver something even better. Production of the third installment itself is progressing very smoothly.”

That last point is especially important considering the interval between releases. Final Fantasy 7 Remake released in April 2020 for PlayStation 4, and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth followed in February 2024 for PS5. About two years later, Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3 is in a playable state, and while it’s likely to launch in 2027 or even early 2028, it’s set to be a massive experience with tons of content.

Look no further than Rebirth, which boasts much more content and larger-scale regions than the first part. And that’s not even accounting for the implementation of the Highwind, further improvements to the visuals, or the fact that it’s launching on multiple platforms.

Of course, Square Enix hasn’t confirmed whether it’s a day one launch on Xbox Series X/S, PS5, PC, and Nintendo Switch 2. Or even the official title, though it’s apparently locked. Nevertheless, it should be interesting to see how Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3 ends the trilogy.

After his statements about Game Key-Cards earlier this month, he mentioned to Automaton that the Switch 2 versions are likely going to target 30 FPS across its larger, more detailed worlds. Arguing in favor of stable performance over visual fidelity on a platform that has two distinct graphical modes in the interest of portability, Hamaguchi was emphatic about crafting an experience that would perform consistently enough to keep its players invested in it.

“…with the Nintendo Switch 2, there’s the added characteristic of handheld mode, where performance constraints are tighter…We’re consistently aiming for 30 FPS wherever possible. For Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and the third installment of the trilogy, our engineers are working hard on tuning to ensure stable performance at that level.”

Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade did quite well on the Switch 2, and we’re hoping that the next two can sustain that forward momentum on the platform as far as the performance is concerned. From the looks of it, we’re in good hands as we count down the days until we get to replay a largely enjoyable experience while we’re on the go.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth launches on June 3rd for Nintendo Switch 2 alongside Xbox Series X/S. Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3 doesn’t have a release date but it’s in a playable state and could receive a proper reveal this year.

While this one is a free upgrade for owners of the original game, know that this is the only version of the game you can currently purchase. The older version of the game is now listed as Final Fantasy 7 – 2013 Edition, and its saves aren’t compatible with the new one.

While that might be a bummer to some of you hoping to continue an old playthrough, you might be pleased to know that if you’re starting from scratch, you get to run the game at three times its normal speed for most of your travels and battles, along with specific events. That’s quite the time saver, and it’s going to work well with the ability to turn off random battles in the world as you explore it, and even activate constant HP and MP regen when you do get into a fight. That’s a quick way to enjoy a game that’s probably given you many fond memories.

Of course, if you’re playing it for the first time, you’ll want to ignore those new settings and experience it as intended. Either way, this one’s going to keep you occupied for a while.

However, the latter serves as the MVP when it comes to overall hardware spending. At $248 million, it’s up 16 percent over the previous year, which was enough to offset declining sales for the PS5, Xbox Series X/S and Switch 1. The fact that it achieved this while ranking second in dollar and unit sales is equally impressive.

The only new game release was Bandai Namco’s Code Vein 2, which reached 11th in the overall charts. However, it topped the PC sales chart that considered all storefronts. Perhaps even more surprising is that Final Fantasy 7 Remake re-entered the top ten charts, going from 225th place in December 2025 to ninth, thanks to its Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch 2 ports.

If that’s not a good sign that Square Enix made the right move to go multiplatform with the trilogy, we don’t know what is. The next entry, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, is out on June 3rd for both platforms.