Although one cannot confirm a physical edition of Final Fantasy 7 Revelation right now, amid a relentless wave of industry anxiety about a digital-only future, director Naoki Hamaguchi's reassuring stance on physical media has arrived at the absolutely perfect moment. In a recent interview with GamesRadar+, Hamaguchi stated that he believes “there will always be some kind of physical or bundled release,” even if all games eventually become downloadable. “You might have a box with the code inside,” he said, “or maybe key cards like Nintendo does, or a boot disc or something. I feel like there's always going to be something, and I hope there will be.” Honestly, just reading it gave me chills and a breath of fresh air I didn't know I needed.
Understandably, people have been upset about all of this, and while I can see why PlayStation has made its decision to embrace an all-digital future, that doesn't mean it's the future I want. It's one thing to completely agree with what Sony is doing and openly accept it without objection, but it's quite another to stay grounded in the reality that everything has been moving towards this future for quite some time now, and it was only a matter of time before the gaming industry got caught up in that wave. Nevertheless, it Final Fantasy 7 Revelation The director's optimism makes me think we could at least postpone that future a little longer—and I feel like that's the kind of hopium we all need right now.
If Hamaguchi from FF7 Revelation is right, maybe we can all settle down
I'm not saying any of this because I think physical packaging can replace actual discs – not by any means. There will never be anything quite like popping a disc into a console, hearing it buzz and seeing the title screen appear for the game you've been waiting so long to play. But the idea that physical media is invulnerable to changes in trends, profit margins and material availability is as outdated as the product itself, as we've already seen VHS and cassette tapes, CDs and DVDs virtually disappear as we feed the digital beast with our high-speed internet connections, smart TVs and handheld, wireless computers.
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But what I'm saying is that, if Hamaguchi is right, even if the games we play someday no longer allow us to insert a disc to play them, at least we'll have something tangible to put in our hands. Sure, it wouldn't be as satisfying as hearing the click after we took the disc out of the case, but video games would still be physically present in some form. It's not ideal, I know, but it's better than nothing at all. Plus, it's that new game scent we all really love, right? At least we would keep that.
Just look at what Rockstar has already done with it Grand Theft Auto 6. When it was revealed that GTA 6s physical copies would not include a disc but a download code, it was highly controversial – and rightfully so. Then PlayStation had to go and beat up Rockstar by saying, “You know what? How about we just get rid of physical games for good?” And everyone lost their minds, of course. Still, if at this point we can't stop the all-digital apocalypse from coming, Rockstar may have given us a glimpse of a future where the blow of that apocalypse is at least softened.
And maybe it is Final Fantasy 7 Revelation's Hamaguchi means it when he says that he believes that even if we lose physical games in disc form, there may still be physical packaging of some kind. Perhaps the only future we can hope for right now is a future where games are no longer discs but instead are a tangible, unplayable version of themselves that means ownership other than a hard drive. Should we continue the fight against PlayStation? We absolutely should. Will it really do any good? Time will tell.
But I say we can do both. We can continue to let PlayStation know that we are unhappy with its decision to abandon physical media for whatever reason, while remaining optimistic about the future. Whether that future means PlayStation reversing its decision on physical media or the industry reaching a compromise where we still get something to put in our hands, even if it's a hollow box, no one knows. I'd at least love video games to bring back manual bets, but maybe I'm asking too much there in this increasingly paperless world. Regardless of where we end up, though, I know where we are now, and Hamaguchi's comments at least give me hope amid the internet's relentless pessimism.
- Released
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2027
- Prequel(s)
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Final Fantasy VII Remake, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
