Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade Director Bullish About Nintendo Switch 2’s Capability

Though the Final Fantasy franchise has been one of the biggest gaming properties in the world, Square Enix’s beloved RPG series is having an especially celebrated moment in its long, global history. The Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy that began in 2020 has completely reinvigorated the franchise, with its first two installments widely acclaimed, while its third installment is deep in active development. Final Fantasy XVI was similarly well-received, the franchise’s online presence remains enormously popular with games like Final Fantasy XIV, and its merchandising and brand partnerships have been particularly robust, including crossovers with Magic: The Gathering, Monster Hunter Wilds, and Tekken 8.

Simply put, whether you’re a longtime Final Fantasy fan or a gamer curious about the series, this is a great era for Square Enix’s flagship. And with the company porting the Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy to the Nintendo Switch 2 and Xbox Series X|S, the Switch 2 port of Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade was made available for an impressive hands-on demo at Tokyo Game Show 2025 that we visited.

“The biggest joy for me is being able to witness them reach a wider audience, not just a specific platform audience, like the PlayStation players; we get to reach Switch 2, Xbox, and PC players now,” observes Naoki Hamaguchi, the director of the entire Final Fantasy Remake trilogy. “The PlayStation players are still going to be our main target audience and very important to us, but being able to deliver our titles to a wider audience among Switch 2, Xbox, and PC players is such a great feeling.”

Since it was announced that the Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy would be coming to the Nintendo Switch 2, in particular, there has been speculation regarding the games’ technical performance on the console. This has been fueled by the publicly released technical specs for the Switch 2 compared to those of the PlayStation 5, where the titles were originally released. Hamaguchi dismisses these concerns to us though, primarily because of how the ports will logistically be handled by the console’s hardware.

“I am aware of various media and players commenting their concerns about how the Switch 2 version might perform,” Hamaguchi says. “When we consider the fact that we’re releasing our Switch 2 ports in the keycard format, that allows us to have the game installed directly into the Switch 2, which means there are little to no concerns about the load speed because that allows for faster load times comparable to other platforms like the PS5. On that front, I’m not really worried about it.”

The graphical capabilities of the Switch 2 in comparison to the PS5 and PC versions has also faced scrutiny, but Hamaguchi directs those worried about the visual fidelity to the Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade port. Indeed, the hands-on demo at TGS 2025 does provide a version of the game visibly comparable to the original version of the 2021 remaster of the game. Hamaguchi notes that he and the ports’ development team are paying close attention to the Switch 2’s graphical presentation and are confident players will be pleasantly surprised by their work.

“When you look at the graphics for the Remake Intergrade port on the Switch 2, I think you can see that it does perform as well as other high-end titles,” the director notes. “With the team having the experience to develop the Switch 2 port for Remake Intergrade, we got a lot of valuable insight and knowledge on how to work with the Switch 2 hardware. We’re leveraging a lot of that in the development of our Rebirth port on the Switch 2. In the near future, I do think we’ll be able to release some footage of Rebirth on the Switch 2. When we do that, I think that will surprise a lot of players in a good way.”

Though the Remake Intergrade port doesn’t include additional story material—the sheer breadth of content already risks overwhelming new players—it does add a streamlined progression system. This was made to accommodate players who want to avoid the higher difficulty gameplay, with the optional progression system giving them significant benefits in battle if they so choose. When I half-joke that players could potentially skip the game’s notoriously difficult Hell House boss fight, Hamaguchi offers an intriguing insight about that particular battle’s development.

“Of all the things that we reimagined with the FFVII Remake trilogy, the Hell House boss battle is something that I’m really proud of,” Hamaguchi says. “During the development, we didn’t actually envision having the Hell House fight be a boss battle. It was actually just going to be a mob enemy in the field, much like the original. But when I saw the design of Hell House, I was like, ‘Why is a house just roaming around in the fields?’ It just didn’t make sense to me. So I made an executive decision that this could be a weapon of Don Corneo’s and could be a boss fight.”

The aforementioned resurgence of Final Fantasy shows no signs of slowing down, especially in the U.S. For Hamaguchi, a lifelong fan of the franchise since playing Final Fantasy VI growing up, getting to contribute to the franchise significantly is a dream come true. At the same time, Hamaguchi explains that Final Fantasy is just one of the larger ecosystem of fan-favorite properties by Square Enix.

“When you look at all the different IPs that Square Enix has, it’s not just Final Fantasy,” he reflects. “We also have Dragon Quest, Nier, and a bunch of really strong IPs. But when you look at Final Fantasy, it is one of the most popular Square Enix properties in the West. It makes me incredibly happy to have that opportunity, to have that chance, to participate in its legacy and create something for the Final Fantasy brand. The overall experience of creating this huge RPG from Japan that fans all over the world get to enjoy is just remarkable. You mentioned that the past few years have been a big moment for the franchise in the U.S., but I want to make that moment even bigger. I want to expand further on that. I hope that fans around the world look forward to our future installments.”

Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade will be available for the Nintendo Switch 2 and Xbox Series X|S on Jan. 22. A Switch 2 and Xbox Series X|S port of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is currently in active development, with the trilogy’s third installment currently in development for the PlayStation 5, Switch 2, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.