Video game anniversaries have been coming at us thick and fast, pretty much since Mario turned 35 a couple of years ago. Sonic's 30th birthday followed, as did Donkey Kong's 40th, and Pokemon did just about everything it could possibly think of to mark 25 years since the launch of its very first games. Turns out 2022 might be a pretty busy year for video game anniversaries too.
First up, Final Fantasy 7. What might well be the most iconic game in the long-running series turns 25 this year. Actually, it turns 25 just four days from now on January 31. Unlike Nintendo which let DK and Zelda's birthdays pass by with barely even a mention, Square Enix actually plans to mark the occasion by hosting a celebration broadcast that will include a couple of very special guests.
Artist Tetsuya Nomura and director Yoshinori will both be a part of the broadcast next week. As for what else will be included, the announcement suggests a lot of the focus will be on The First Soldier. The mobile game based in the FF7 universe launched last year, and next week's celebration could well reveal the first details about its immediate future and more than likely something about season two.
The broadcast will hopefully include info on more than just the mobile game. The FF7 universe has been opened up in a major way over the course of the past few years. Not by just The First Soldier, but also through Ever Crisis and, of course, Final Fantasy 7 Remake. Fingers crossed we get a first look at Part 2 next week, although it still feels a little early for that at this point.
If you want to check out the FF7 25th-anniversary celebration as it happens, it will presumably be streamed through the Square Enix YouTube channel. The broadcast will begin at 7 pm JST on January 31, so 5 am EST for those of you on the east coast in the US. Do bear in mind it has been branded as a First Soldier broadcast, so don't get your hopes up too high for other news.