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Square Enix to Bring Final Fantasy VII to iOS in 2015
During Square Enix's E3 event that was held this morning, the company announced plans to bring iconic game Final Fantasy VII to iOS "before the end of summer" this year. Little detail was made available on the game aside from an upcoming release date, but it appears it's a port of the original PS1 game and not the Final Fantasy VII remake that was announced by Sony earlier this week.
Square Enix has made the first six Final Fantasy games available on iOS devices, but Final Fantasy VII for iOS will mark the first Final Fantasy port coming from a PlayStation game. Released in 1997, Final Fantasy VII was the first game in the Final Fantasy series created for PlayStation and it quickly became one of the most popular Final Fantasy games.
In 2013, Square Enix producer Takashi Tokita said in an interview that a release of Final Fantasy VII was "years away" from release on iOS because of the space limitations on the platform. "It's that currently, space will be an issue," he said. "Phones won't be able to contain the space it takes. It's over a gigabyte. People are probably going to have to wait for a few years."
Prior to 2015, Apple limited the size of apps to 2GB, but in February, that limit was expanded to 4GB, perhaps making games like Final Fantasy VII more feasible on iOS. A PC port of Final Fantasy VII comes in at over 3GB, so it's possible that the 2GB size restriction was the limiting factor.
A game that's 3GB in size will be a tough sell to customers who have 16GB iPhones and iPads, but upcoming features in iOS 9 could help slim down the install size of Final Fantasy VII and other games that take up a lot of storage space. App Thinning, a feature Apple introduced at WWDC, allows developers to optimize apps for specific devices for the first time. For example, a game being played on the iPhone won't be required to download all the iPad art assets, saving much needed space.
Square Enix has made the first six Final Fantasy games available on iOS devices, but Final Fantasy VII for iOS will mark the first Final Fantasy port coming from a PlayStation game. Released in 1997, Final Fantasy VII was the first game in the Final Fantasy series created for PlayStation and it quickly became one of the most popular Final Fantasy games.
In 2013, Square Enix producer Takashi Tokita said in an interview that a release of Final Fantasy VII was "years away" from release on iOS because of the space limitations on the platform. "It's that currently, space will be an issue," he said. "Phones won't be able to contain the space it takes. It's over a gigabyte. People are probably going to have to wait for a few years."
Prior to 2015, Apple limited the size of apps to 2GB, but in February, that limit was expanded to 4GB, perhaps making games like Final Fantasy VII more feasible on iOS. A PC port of Final Fantasy VII comes in at over 3GB, so it's possible that the 2GB size restriction was the limiting factor.
A game that's 3GB in size will be a tough sell to customers who have 16GB iPhones and iPads, but upcoming features in iOS 9 could help slim down the install size of Final Fantasy VII and other games that take up a lot of storage space. App Thinning, a feature Apple introduced at WWDC, allows developers to optimize apps for specific devices for the first time. For example, a game being played on the iPhone won't be required to download all the iPad art assets, saving much needed space.
The App Store and operating system optimize the installation of iOS and watchOS apps by tailoring app delivery to the capabilities of the user’s particular device, with minimal footprint. This optimization, called app thinning, lets you create apps that use the most device features, occupy minimum disk space, and accommodate future updates that can be applied by Apple. Faster downloads and more space for other apps and content provides a better user experience.Square Enix also gave an update on Kingdom Hearts Unchained X, its upcoming smartphone game. Unchained X was previously announced in May, but as of today, Square Enix has confirmed that it will be available worldwide when it launches.
Tags: Square Enix, Final Fantasy VII
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56 months ago
This is not the kind of game you play casually on a tablet. This is worthy of quitting your job, stop bathing and playing all day long with residual cheeto cheese underneath your fingernails.
56 months ago
Safe to say I'll be slamming this onto my iPad the second it hits the App Store. Awesome!
56 months ago
In 2013, Square Enix producer Takashi Tokita said in an interview that a release of Final Fantasy VII was "years away" from release on iOS because of the space limitations on the platform. "It's that currently, space will be an issue," he said. "Phones won't be able to contain the space it takes. It's over a gigabyte. People are probably going to have to wait for a few years."
Well, it's still compliant with XKCD's definition of 'a 'few':
56 months ago
App Thinning ('https://www.macrumors.com/roundup/ios-9/#developer_tools'), a feature Apple introduced at WWDC, allows developers to optimize apps for specific devices for the first time.
This is called "Slicing" (one aspect of App Thinning), but iOS 9 also includes another aspect of App Thinning called "On-Demand Resources" which allows for loading assets from the app store on demand. So as the user progresses through the game, more assets are downloaded and unused assets are removed.
56 months ago
I fail to understand why this game would be 3GB on iOS when the original PlayStation version was 1.95GB max (650MB CD x3 disks). Also modern compression algorithms (H.264 video, AAC audio) are superior to what you had on PlayStation at the time, so the game should be smaller.
56 months ago
Already got this for my PS3 and Vita, but I love this game so much, I'm definitely getting for my iDevices. So stocked for the remake.
56 months ago
This is not the kind of game you play casually on a tablet. This is worthy of quitting your job, stop bathing and playing all day long with residual cheeto cheese underneath your fingernails.
haha you did that too (thumbs up)
56 months ago
Don't really care anymore now that a remake is actually happening.
I so want to buy a PS4 to play the remake, but I don't have much time for gaming anymore...family and all. However, a pocket edition that I can play at lunch and out and about, that's what I'm talking about.
56 months ago
I really would like to get into the FF series, but don't really know where to start. Is it the type of game where each release builds upon the previous one story wise?
No. Final Fantasy VII is an ideal place to start. It was leaps and bounds beyond what came before. There are references to earlier games, of course, but nothing that matters to the gameplay or story. Each of the Final Fantasy games is a self-contained story, anyway.
Final Fantasy VIII was good, though not nearly as good as VII. FF IX was excellent.
Thanks guys, I was about to ask the same question.
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