Square Enix Stepping Out of Platform Exclusivity, Will FFVII Remake Part 3 Debut on PC

Under the new president, Square Enix has officially begun a period of change. This is part of what the company calls the "Reboots and Awakens" initiative, which is a complete business overhaul that began in 2024. When the company announced its three-year midterm business plan, it also announced this strategy. This strategy is already changing almost every part of the Japanese gaming giant, from how it works on development to how it releases games on different platforms.

Square Enix has gone through what might be one of the biggest internal changes in its history since the beginning of 2024. The company has canceled many projects that were still being worked on because it has a new president in charge. They want to put their resources back into titles that have a better chance of making money.

The goal? To be pickier about where their money goes and make better use of it. This plan is already working: Square has said that they are saving more money because they are cutting back on development costs, bringing advertising in-house, and focusing on internal development more often.

During this reboot phase, titles that the company now sees as high-risk and low-reward will be systematically axed. According to a new report, Square Enix has stopped working on several games and instead invested money in projects that need more work but will pay off in the long run.

Square Enix's move toward multi-platform releases is another big change in strategy. The company used to be known for its exclusive deals, especially with PlayStation, but now it sees wider distribution as important. After the success of ports to Nintendo Switch and PC, future games will focus on being available on as many platforms as possible.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is likely to be one of the last timed exclusives from Square Enix. In the coming years, the company will focus more on being multi-platform. This is also related to the company's goal to keep a steady flow of releases instead of a bunch of big drops all at once.

Square Enix's roadmap splits the future into two parts: Reboot and Reawaken. The current three-year window, which ends in 2027, is all about reorganizing, eliminating waste, and setting new development priorities. The next phase is called "Awakened," and Square's goal is to keep releasing big games from its three main franchises: Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and Kingdom Hearts.

Some fans are worried that there won't be any new games until 2027, but Square's schedule shows that new games and releases on multiple platforms are still planned for fiscal years 2025 and 2026. There may not be many AAA blockbusters coming out this year, but the groundwork is being laid for a steady stream of important movies.

What is really going to happen? Many projects were put on hold, but Square has hinted at a few that will be out soon:

A remaster of Bravely Default;

DRAGON QUEST I & II HD-2D Remake;

A port of Final Fantasy VII Remake for the Switch 2.

Big games like Kingdom Hearts IV, Dragon Quest XII, and Final Fantasy VII Remake Part 3 are still in the works, but no firm release dates have been set yet. Based on how things are going now, Kingdom Hearts IV looks like it will be Square's biggest game in 2026, with FFVII Part 3 taking the top spot in 2027.

It's also important to note that Square Enix is finishing up the development pipeline for several SD (small or medium-sized) titles. This could mean remakes, remasters, or original projects with smaller budgets. These will help keep things moving during this time of change.

The company is much more careful when it comes to investments. New financial reports show that content abandonment costs about $140 million. A lot of that money came from games that had been in development for a long time but had little chance of success.

Kingdom Hearts: Missing Link is a well-known game that was quietly canceled after years of development. Square Enix reportedly wondered if its GPS-based gameplay would work in the long term and why most people weren't interested in it. What if it had been more like Genshin Impact, an action RPG? The outcome might have been different.

It also looks like Square is learning from past mistakes, like how poorly Babylon's Fall, The Quiet Man, Balan Wonderworld, and Left Alive were received. Even though these titles were meant to be experimental, they ended up being expensive failures. 

From now on, Square Enix seems to care more about quality than quantity. Even with this warning, Square Enix isn't giving up on being creative. TBS Television, one of Japan's main news networks, is working with the company on a brand-new original IP, which is a big surprise. Even though there aren't many details yet, this partnership shows that people are still interested in new ideas; they're just being approached with more care.

Fans who are worried that Square's future will only consist of big-budget games should feel better now. The desire to try new things hasn't gone away; it's just being better managed.

Thanks to its popular gacha-based live-service games, Square Enix has long been a giant in the Japanese mobile market. But this success has often come at the cost of its HD (console and PC) output, which hasn't always lived up to the hype. The company now wants to rebalance its portfolio so that it doesn't depend too much on mobile.

Square is doing more development in-house to control quality and costs better. However, Tencent is working on a few projects, like the mobile version of Final Fantasy XIV, while Square oversees the process.

Some fans are still not sure or are upset about the delays and cancellations, but this reset was long overdue. Square Enix had been having trouble with inconsistent quality, missed expectations, and too many titles that weren't focused. The company is betting on a future with more hits than misses by narrowing its focus, making its budgets stricter, and realigning itself toward consistency.

Even though the road to 2028 isn't as busy as it used to be, it's all because of something bigger. The next era of Square Enix may be like the golden age of the PS1 and PS2, but this time, the company will have made smarter business decisions behind the scenes.