Plenty of video game anniversaries are celebrated every year, but very few have their own official day of celebration. Final Fantasy 7 now falls into that category as, on the anniversary of the original game's launch, Square Enix officially registered January 31 as a day of celebration for the most iconic game in the Final Fantasy series.Square Enix shared the big news via its Final Fantasy 7 account, including a photo of the certificate confirming January 31 to be an official day of celebration, and another picture of Yoshinori Kitase holding it. Kitase worked on the original version of the game and was a producer on its critically acclaimed remake which launched in 2020.“The 31st of January 1997, the day that Final Fantasy 7 came out, was not just a significant day for the Final Fantasy series, but also marked when so many big things started moving for those of us who worked on the game,” Kitase wrote in a statement about the registration of the game's day of celebration. A statement that was formatted to look like a text box from the original game which was a nice touch.
“With the establishment of this official anniversary day, I will now always remember these things, and hold them dearly in my heart.” While any and all Final Fantasy 7 fans are welcome to celebrate the game's official day of celebration, players outside of Japan were made to wait for the game in 1997. Despite launching on January 31 in Japan, it didn't arrive in the US until September of that year, and the UK two more months after that.
Thankfully, Remake's launch wasn't staggered, and Rebirth's release date won't be either. The second game in the trilogy is slated to launch this winter and will be a PS5 exclusive, presumably for a limited time. Final Fantasy 16 also launches this year and will also be a PS5 exclusive for at least six months.