Square Enix just killed another game that came out less than a year ago. This time it’s Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier.
We learned this morning that Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier is already shutting down.
“After almost a year of jumping around on chocobos, mashing it up in melee battles, and sniping from the rooftops of Midgar Undercity, it is with a heavy heart that we are announcing the end of service for Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier,” a notice on the game’s website says.
“Despite all our efforts to bring you regular updates with fresh and exciting content, we haven’t been able to deliver the experience that we were hoping to, and that you all deserve, so we have made the extremely tough decision to end service for Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier,” the page adds.
According to the timeline provided on the game’s website, the company will remove Shinra Credits from the in-game shop starting today. Shinra Credits that you already own can be used until service ends in three months. Support for non-English languages ends on November 1. The game’s servers will go offline on January 11, 2023.
“Although there is only a little less than three months until service ends, we will continue to make updates during this time, so we hope you will continue to enjoy Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier until the very end,” the notice says.
What’s going on at Square Enix?
It seems that the folks at Square Enix in Japan are seriously revamping the company. They keep killing recently-released games as well as selling studios left and right. What exactly is going on here?
After launching on PC, PS4, and PS5 in the spring, Square Enix recently announced that Babylon’s Fall service ends in February 2023. This lead the CEO of Platinum Games to issue an apology to players in which he said that he was “extremely sorry” for the game’s closure.
That’s not all though.
In addition to its highly controversial interest in NFTs and blockchain gaming, Square Enix has sold off some of its biggest assets – both popular franchises and studios. Maybe this is part of a broader reorganization within Square Enix, but the company is starting to look rudderless.
Embracer Group bought Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal as well as the Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, and Thief IPs in a $300 million bargain basement deal. Meanwhile, a former Eidos Montreal executive described Square Enix’s takeover as a “train wreck in slow motion.”
