The next major chapter in Square Enix's attempt to rebuild and remake the entirety of Final Fantasy 7 has now been revealed as a PlayStation 5 exclusive, and there doesn't seem to be a PC or Xbox release in sight at this time. While this may be a controversial way to go about launching such a high-profile title, it's actually par for the course with Square Enix, as the game's predecessor only came out on PC later on.
This time, however, Square Enix has shared its justification for making Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth a PlayStation 5 exclusive, and it implies potentially exciting things for fans of the series. The reasoning also suggests that the PC version might still happen down the line, though it doesn't actually seem to be an immediate consideration for the publisher.
Namely, according to Square Enix, the second chapter of the Final Fantasy 7 remake trilogy is going to be a large, sprawling game, and the team believed that they would be forced to leverage PlayStation 5's powerful hardware to make it as good as it needed to be. SSD, specifically, is cited as a major boon as it substantially reduces the games' loading times across the board, and Square Enix described loading as an "extreme bottleneck" in this particular case. This does not, however, confirm the presence of open-world elements, as Square Enix is yet to comment on rumors of them being present.
Being a strange hybrid of a remake and a new story, it is still unclear as to what FF7 Rebirth's subtitle refers to. Square Enix is certainly taking this chapter of Final Fantasy 7 in its own direction, so it's entirely possible that the developers have got some exciting surprises in mind for players. With PlayStation 5's powerful hardware, Square Enix will have the opportunity to push its game engine further than ever before, and underline Rebirth as a huge part of its re-envisioning of the legendary title.
Given Square Enix's explanation of the issue at hand, several assumptions can be made about the game. First is the one mentioned above - that Rebirth is a substantially large and open-ended game with potential dedicated open-world features. Second, on the other hand, is that if the game ever makes its way to PC, which is unconfirmed, but would make sense considering Final Fantasy 7 Remake's Steam port, its minimum system requirements may indeed include an actual SSD.
Whether that ends up being the case or not is anyone's guess at this point. The important bit is that Square Enix believes that running FF7 Rebirth on other platforms wouldn't necessarily be all that great of an experience and that the publisher is currently focusing its efforts on PlayStation 5 exclusively. Until more technical information is revealed, fans are already speculating what some potentially exciting Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth trailer details might mean.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is in development for PS5.
Source: Gematsu