Wark Digest #237 - 38 Years Young
Welcome back to the Wark Digest, your weekly newsletter of new developments and historical insights from the Final Fantasy universe. I’m Chris, aka Hoogathy, and this week Nintendo Switch 2 owners can get a taste of the Final Fantasy VII Remake port, Final Fantasy XIV rages against the machine, and the franchise celebrates its 38th birthday with a new sales milestone.
This week’s newsletter is 2051 words, a 13-minute read.
A Taste of Handheld Remake
With a little over a month to go until Final Fantasy VII Remake makes its Nintendo debut, Switch 2 owners have a chance to demo the game… from the comfort of their own console.
What’s going on:
A free demo is available now through the Nintendo eshop, which allows players to play through the “Opening Bombing Mission” (up to the Scorpion Sentinel and the subsequent reactor escape)
The same demo is available for Xbox Series X|S owners as well—though the Switch 2 version of the game is catching more attention
Clearing the demo will allow progress to carry over to the full version upon its release on January 22, 2026, and allow players to receive two bonus items, the Revival Earrings and Survival Set
Preordering the game digitally on either platform will grant a code for the original Final Fantasy VII port; Xbox players can download it immediately, but oddly, Nintendo players have to wait until Remake’s release
Meanwhile physical preorders will come with a free Play Booster of Magic: The Gathering—Final Fantasy, so pick your prize accordingly
What we thought:
I’ve been eager to see how Remake runs on the Switch 2 since it was announced and… well, I’m not disappointed at all
The game looks as beautiful as ever on Nintendo’s shores, if not better than initially playing it on PS4 at launch
The biggest complaint arising from the community seems to be the decision to lock it to 30fps, even when docked, but this is a “your mileage may vary” moment
I’ve never been a frame-counter and I thought it all looked and played fantastic; an incredibly stable 30fps is preferrable to something that jumps around or staggers trying to swing at 60fps
We know it’s inherently closer to the PS5 version, since the port includes the PS5-exclusive Intergrade, but it actually looks closer to the PS5 version as well, which is a heartening sign for the full release (and, for that matter, the rest of the trilogy)
If Remake is laying a foundation this sturdy with an early PS5 game’s port, it bodes well for the eventual Rebirth port and the third game, which are both mid-lifespan PS5 games by comparison—that open-world is going to be demanding, after all, and Remake is making a compelling case
As usual, looks take a bit of a hit in handheld mode, but nothing immersion- or game-breaking; if anything, I did notice that the battery drain was a little higher for the brief period of time I played it handheld (the post-boss escape sequence in particular)
Nintendo has always played it cool with tech, preferring to lead with creativity instead of raw technical power, so the fact that something as advanced as FFVIIR can run this well on one of their systems is a rewarding sign…
…and more importantly, it may set a bar for how studios handle Switch 2 ports
An hour with this demo was far more enjoyable than replaying Aspyr’s recent port of Tomb Raider—the level of care put into these two games could not be more disparate (and TR was originally a PS3 game, for crying out loud)
What’s next? Final Fantasy VII Remake arrives on Switch 2 and Xbox Series X|S on January 22, 2026; meanwhile, PlayStation or PC players who haven’t taken the plunge yet can benefit from sales on Remake and Rebirth over the holiday season.
Thundaga Round!
Speaking of Remake’s Nintendo debut, Tetsuya Nomura commemorated the double-whammy of FFVII Remake and Dragon Quest VII Reimagined, which release two weeks apart (DQVIIR on February 5)
Final Fantasy XIV’s patch 7.4 went live this week, and we have another banger track featured in the Arcadion raid series—composed by, of all people, Tom Morello, legendary guitarist of Rage Against The Machine
Bucking the usual trend of FFXIV music releases, the single “Everything Burns” is available now on streaming platforms, as performed by Morello and Beartooth’s Caleb Shomo, who penned the lyrics from the Warrior of Light’s perspective
Morello plays TTRPGs with frequent FFXIV vocalist Jason Charles Miller, who mentioned composer Masayoshi Soken is a big fan… leading to an impromptu collaboration that has left Soken “pretty close to death right now” from the awe of working with an idol
In further FFXIV celebrity news, fans worry that Jonathan Bailey, voice of G’raha Tia and People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive for 2025, may have been recast recently as the quality and/or timbre of G’raha’s lines is markedly different this patch
Bailey is very in-demand in Hollywood lately, between roles in Wicked, Jurassic World: Rebirth, and Bridgerton, and it seems he may have been recording his lines in subpar conditions while otherwise committed
He’s been very adamant about his love for the character and his desire to keep playing the role—and if it’s true that he’s recording in makeshift spaces while working on other projects, it proves how far he’ll go to stay in FFXIV
If you’ve been looking to get into FFXIV recently, or expanding your collection of expansions, the Complete Edition, Dawntrail, and the Collector’s Editions are on sale on all platforms from now until early January
In a follow-up to last issue’s discussion of activist investors 3D Investment Partners, the group announced this week that their shares have increased, and they now hold about 15% of the company’s shares—still second to Yasuhiro Fukushima’s own ~19%, so… yeah
That being said, they still hold about 10% less than Fukushima’s family collectively holds, as the “Fukushima Family” has a separate share of about 5%)
It was brought to our attention (thanks Jon!) after issue #235 that Another Eden, host of a collaboration event with Final Fantasy IX, has previously caught fire for their Steam version, which includes a kernel-level anti-cheat system
Anyone looking to check out the game on PC for the FFIX love may want to know that the game includes this additional process which is at best, one more process weighing down your computer even when the game isn’t running, and at the absolute worst, a potential security concern (as some users fear that these processes could include malicious things like keyloggers)
Accusations like this can sometimes be baseless and overblown, but then again, who needs extra strain on their PC for a mobile game that isn’t even running?
38 Years, And 6 Million Sold
Yesterday marked the 38th anniversary of the original Final Fantasy and therefore the series as a whole—and Square Enix had some news and updates for the occasion.
What’s going on:
Square Enix confirmed that the Final Fantasy I-VI Pixel Remasters have passed 6 million copies sold across all platforms
To celebrate, the games are discounted again, by up to 35% off
The rearranged soundtracks used for each game’s PR will be released on CD in Japan on February 18 (no confirmation yet of wider releases)
The PR sprites were trotted out for a handful of merchandising and cross-promotional posts… which again, were Japan-centered
Special cards with new book-themed illustrations by Kazuko Shibuya will be available through Hon no Hikidashi, an online media outlet that connects consumers to book stores
There’s lots of giveaways and merch (like buildable pixel art charms of main characters) to explore, if you’re on the right side of the Pacific or like import fees
Creators with online presences, like Hironobu Sakaguchi and Nobuo Uematsu, made the usual observances for the series’ birthday, meanwhile
What we thought:
38 is kind of a flat birthday after all—not a round number, not exactly at the existential dread of turning 40… so a less-than-monumental observation is about what anyone should have expected
6 million is a nice round milestone, though it’s always been a little unclear as to how the sales for this batch of 6 games have been tracked; if you buy one of the six games, while I buy the complete bundle, are our purchases equal? Or does a complete bundle equal 6 sales?
If it’s the latter, that’s about 1 million units sold per game, but let’s be honest, the individual games’ tallies will be higher for the later, 16-bit era games
The observances brought up the specter of years past, when the Collector Edition of the Pixel Remasters was announced and summarily sold out while North America was sleeping
Not to validate claims from that shareholder manifesto last week, but Square Enix needs to get a little wiser in how they market merch to regions outside Japan—there are plenty of fans who’d love to order the soundtrack CDs, or even some of the PR knick-knacks, if they could get them for a decent, non-import price
The quality of their merchandise is high, but the distribution is flawed
One of the biggest celebrants amongst the game devs was Shibuya herself, who has seen a big uptick in recognition for her work 38 years ago through the PRs
What’s next? The Pixel Remaster collection, quite frankly, makes a great gift when you can get it for a considerable discount, so it may be what you need to finish that pesky holiday shopping.
Around the Union
The idea has bandied around for years, and as the original game observes its own 25th anniversary this month, we return to “The Curious Case of Final Fantasy X-3.” The supplemental material post-FFX-2 was, at best, divisive, and yet rumours or wishes to return to Spira for a third installment have continued to float around inexorably. We revisit the situation around this hypothetical threequel and where it stands in 2025…
Meanwhile, at Datalog we delved into “The Complete History of Dragon Quest III!” Final Fantasy stood in the shadow of this Hall of Famer 38 years ago, and the industry has never been the same since its monumental launch—so tune in to get the full context of how Enix literally changed The Game.
Lastly, this will be the final issue of Wark Digest for 2025; there will be no issue on Boxing Day. Thus, I’d like to take a moment on behalf of Darryl, Lauren, myself, and everyone at Final Fantasy Union, Datalog, and Kingdom Hearts Union, to wish a very happy holiday season to all of you, whether you celebrate Christmas or Hanukkah or just relish the end of the year. We hope the rest of the year finds you surrounded by loved ones, and we thank you for all of your support throughout 2025!
Our next issue, #238 on January 2nd, will be our annual, traditional “cozy issue” where we highlight what YOU have to say! Each year the holiday issue features members of our community responding to a particular question, and this year we want to know: what is your favourite Final Fantasy memory?
Was it unwrapping your very first FF game, or beating a certain boss, or discovering a new friend was also into the series? Something heartfelt, hilarious, or just a particular triumph? Share your stories in the comments below, or in the dedicated thread on our Discord, to be featured!
And then we’ll see you on January 9th for our other annual tradition: exploring the year that was, and the year ahead, for Final Fantasy! Happy holidays!
Now you’re up to speed! From the whole team at Final Fantasy Union, thank you for subscribing. Please let us know what you think of our coverage, and what you’d like to see covered in our weekly installments. As ever, if you’ve enjoyed our work, please share it with your friends!
Join the discussion on our Discord!
Or, find Final Fantasy Union on social media: Facebook | Instagram | Bluesky |
Until next time, kupo!
