Wark Digest #265 - Ever Ends
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 one Final Fantasy will be leaving the digital marketplace soon, while many smaller components could be coming for a future release.
This week’s newsletter is 1311 words, a 5-minute read.
Ever Ends
…and then there was one. This week brought the bitter news that Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis will not last forever, or even to the end of the year.
What’s going on:
Square Enix announced Ever Crisis will end on October 6, 2026, at 11PM PDT
Further sales of red crystals suspended immediately
They’re going out with a bang in the meantime, according to a road map for the remaining months:
Story content for Before Crisis will roll out in three waves, one per month, starting and concluding that storyline just in time
The remaining two chapters for the original FFVII will arrive in August and September respectively, bringing that storyline to a close too
The “Beach Festival Fun” event kicks off this month, and a “new event” will follow in August and September each
Various “Festival of Gratitude” draws, gifts, and log-in bonus will be available for the duration of service
Guild Battles will persist monthly
The last month of service will bring third anniversary festivities, ironically
Producer Shoichi Ichikawa, in a letter shared in-game, said “after careful consideration and countless discussions within the team, we determined that it would be challenging to maintain a level of service that is expected of a game with the Final Fantasy VII name in its title, and have come to the difficult decision to end the service of this game”
“Striking an ideal balance between visual quality and development costs, while also maintaining gameplay balance that encouraged greater party diversity, presented ongoing challenges”
“Having to share this news less than three years after launch is incredibly difficult for the operations team as well. We’re grateful to all of you for supporting and loving the game, and we’re sorry that we can’t continue delivering the experience you deserve through to the end”
What we thought:
As neither the current mobile game landscape nor the game’s recent performance aren’t exactly inspiring, it’s not surprising that Ever Crisis is drawing to a close… though it does feel a little early somehow
With Final Fantasy VII Revelation coming in early 2027, it would have been fitting to end the mobile remake on the same day as the remake trilogy hit store shelves, just as Opera Omnia went offline on Rebirth’s release
With the amount of content they’re putting out in the next three months, they could’ve spaced it out—similar to the slower cadence the game has had
Or, if the game had been a little more lively like this, it might have lasted longer
On the other hand, the entire story will pretty much be told by the end: FFVII is wrapping up; Crisis Core, Dirge of Cerberus, and First Soldier are done; Advent Children was (hastily) covered; and now Before Crisis will be wrapped up as well
Its course has essentially been run, and going on would require more original content… or somehow re-adapting the Remake trilogy
On top of that, Ichikawa’s phrasing makes it sound like the game was struggling to remain viable on the company’s end and balanced in the player experience
A classic case of corporate purse-clutching getting in the way?
So, is this good or bad news for Dissidia Duellum? Probably a bit of both
Duellum has more long-term potential, where EC had a limited amount of base content
As the only remaining FF mobile game (aside from Record Keeper in Japan), Duellum theoretically may have more budget space to work with… or, it may have had its days numbered too
What’s next? If you’d like to experience the story chapters of Ever Crisis, there’s probably still time to get through it in three months—the story chapters have a forgiving difficulty and gems are being thrown around as consolation, so it should be easy to get a team together to whip through.
Expanding Revelations
A new finding suggests that the revelations could keep coming for a while post-launch, as Final Fantasy VII Revelation might be getting DLC (and more of it than anyone may have expected).
What’s going on:
As reported by RPGSite, FFVII Revelation’s page on EpicDB temporarily listed a sizable list of previously-unannounced DLCs for the game
The listings include:
Variations of the game itself, like the base game, the base game with pre-order bonus, the premium edition and the premium edition with pre-order bonus, etc
Vague entries called “DLC1” through “DLC9”
A “Digital Contents Pack”
A “Story Expansion Pass”
Since the news broke, the EpicDB page has been updated, and the DLC listings removed
What we thought:
As we learned from the Nvidia leak, these sorts of incidents aren’t exactly gospel
A good portion of the entries were known variations of the game, so no surprise or spoilers there
Speculating on the remaining items can either be very simple, or very grand
"The “Digital Contents Pack” could refer to simple bonus items of some kind, like preorder bonuses or other purchase incentives
DLC1-9 could likewise refer to things like downloadable costumes, weapons, etc… or it could refer to actual playable content?
The “Story Expansion Pass” is the clearest suggestion here, but even then, it begs the question: what does a Story Expansion Pass for this game look like?
If we assume these are genuine listings (and to be clear, I don’t yet), it could mean that there will be some story beats held back from the main game to sell some digital add-ons… or hey, maybe they’ll be original stories, or side events drawing upon lesser-known canon entities like “Tales of Two Pasts”
The prospect of DLC was already publicly announced by director Naoki Hamaguchi, so it’s not beyond the realm of possibility… but at this point in development, chances seem somewhat slim that they’re already working on post-launch campaign to this extent… but time will tell for now.
What’s next? Proper announcements of real DLC could begin as early as the next trailer, or at least once the release date and different editions of the game are confirmed. Either way, a leak like this isn’t the way that devs would want to reveal new content.
Around the Union
This week we examine “7 Final Fantasy Mistranslations That Changed Everything!” A good translation can make all the difference… and so can a bad one. Across the history of Final Fantasy games, we’ve seen a fair share of both, and the ripple effect from a spotty job can profoundly impact how we understand a plot. Join us as we discuss some of the most egregious examples and let us know if any other moments stand out to you (and yes, we all know, “this guy are sick!”).
Over in the Kupo Chronicle, we take a look at the moment in a FF hero’s journey where they must confront the truth:
And lastly, get a taste of Datalog’s Season 3—exploring “The Weird Games That Build The Future!”
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Until next time, kupo!
