"Our understanding of what it means to deliver a viable experience on any platform has become much clearer" Naoki Hamaguchi on porting Final Fantasy VII Rebirth to Nintendo Switch 2
While we recently had the chance to sit down and check out the Nintendo Switch 2 demo for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth out early, RPG Site was also given the opportunity to ask Game Director Naoki Hamaguchi a few questions about the team's work on the port. This is something short and sweet, but it's great to hear about the team's current thoughts now that the port is just about ready to ship.
RPG Site: There's been a long history of Final Fantasy games being ported, or remade, for Nintendo handhelds. Did the development team always intend to eventually release Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth on Nintendo hardware eventually? If not, when was that decision made?
Naoki Hamaguchi: We didn’t begin development with any specific platform in mind. However, when considering the future expansion of the franchise, we were acutely aware that we couldn’t afford to adhere to a fixed development approach.
Furthermore, releasing only REMAKE on the Switch 2 without making future installments available was simply not an option. If we were going to bring it to a certain platform, we needed to make the entire series compatible, and we moved forward with that principle firmly in mind.
With REBIRTH, the shift to an open-world design made optimization significantly more challenging than with REMAKE, but I feel the team truly delivered at an exceptionally high level in that regard. That’s precisely why I’m genuinely looking forward to having many gamers experience the game firsthand and feel its impact for themselves.
Naoki Hamaguchi: We didn’t begin development with any specific platform in mind. However, when considering the future expansion of the franchise, we were acutely aware that we couldn’t afford to adhere to a fixed development approach.
Furthermore, releasing only REMAKE on the Switch 2 without making future installments available was simply not an option. If we were going to bring it to a certain platform, we needed to make the entire series compatible, and we moved forward with that principle firmly in mind.
With REBIRTH, the shift to an open-world design made optimization significantly more challenging than with REMAKE, but I feel the team truly delivered at an exceptionally high level in that regard. That’s precisely why I’m genuinely looking forward to having many gamers experience the game firsthand and feel its impact for themselves.
RPG Site: While Final Fantasy VII: Remake was already a strong port for Switch 2, the impression I feel most have is that Rebirth must have been a more difficult task. What were some of the challenges and opportunities that the team faced while porting the game to Switch 2?
Hamaguchi: As you mentioned, the technical difficulty for REBIRTH was certainly higher, as it features larger-scale areas and a more open structure than REMAKE. In particular, figuring out how to handle the rendering load and background streaming was a major challenge.
On the other hand, I believe that because of the porting experience we had accumulated with REMAKE, we were able to focus not on “what to cut,” but on “what to fine-tune in order to deliver a complete experience.” Since the Switch 2 demands a high level of stability as a handheld device, those criteria became even clearer. As a result, this was both a challenge and a significant opportunity for the port.
Through these efforts, I feel we were able to deliver a satisfying experience in REBIRTH, just as we did with REMAKE. This sense of accomplishment serves as a major validation, giving us strong confidence in our ability to optimize the third installment for the Switch 2
Hamaguchi: As you mentioned, the technical difficulty for REBIRTH was certainly higher, as it features larger-scale areas and a more open structure than REMAKE. In particular, figuring out how to handle the rendering load and background streaming was a major challenge.
On the other hand, I believe that because of the porting experience we had accumulated with REMAKE, we were able to focus not on “what to cut,” but on “what to fine-tune in order to deliver a complete experience.” Since the Switch 2 demands a high level of stability as a handheld device, those criteria became even clearer. As a result, this was both a challenge and a significant opportunity for the port.
Through these efforts, I feel we were able to deliver a satisfying experience in REBIRTH, just as we did with REMAKE. This sense of accomplishment serves as a major validation, giving us strong confidence in our ability to optimize the third installment for the Switch 2
RPG Site: It's been noted that Final Fantasy VII: Remake received some bespoke changes to better facilitate the Switch 2 port's performance. I'm assuming that the same is true for Rebirth; is it possible for these settings to be backported to the PC release, for use on weaker hardware - such as PC gaming handhelds?
Hamaguchi: For the Switch 2 version of REBIRTH, we made significant adjustments to rendering, streaming, and load balancing to ensure the experience remained intact despite limited resources.
What we gained from this process wasn’t a “magic formula” that allows us to simply apply specific settings to different environments. Rather, through optimizing for diverse platforms like the Steam Deck, Xbox Ally, and the Switch, we feel that our team’s ability to accurately determine what areas to focus on to ensure a viable experience has significantly improved. By building on these achievements one by one, our understanding of what it means to deliver a viable experience on any platform has become much clearer.
Moving forward, to ensure this experience reaches as many gamers as possible, we intend to continue identifying the optimal approach for each platform while carefully assessing its specific requirements.
Hamaguchi: For the Switch 2 version of REBIRTH, we made significant adjustments to rendering, streaming, and load balancing to ensure the experience remained intact despite limited resources.
What we gained from this process wasn’t a “magic formula” that allows us to simply apply specific settings to different environments. Rather, through optimizing for diverse platforms like the Steam Deck, Xbox Ally, and the Switch, we feel that our team’s ability to accurately determine what areas to focus on to ensure a viable experience has significantly improved. By building on these achievements one by one, our understanding of what it means to deliver a viable experience on any platform has become much clearer.
Moving forward, to ensure this experience reaches as many gamers as possible, we intend to continue identifying the optimal approach for each platform while carefully assessing its specific requirements.
RPG Site: How does the team feel about the reception to Final Fantasy VII: Remake on Nintendo Switch 2 - is there anything the team wishes they could have implemented in the port, that may have been left on the cutting room floor?
Hamaguchi: My impression of the response to the Switch 2 version of REMAKE is that far more people embraced it in earnest than I had expected. In particular, the surprise and delight expressed over the fact that “a game of this scale can work so well on a handheld platform” gave the development team a huge boost of confidence.
I was also struck by just how many game fans were genuinely happy to see FFVII return to Nintendo hardware. Personally, as a fellow game fan, it was a deeply moving experience for me as well.
Of course, scaling to suit the hardware’s characteristics is necessary, but our top priority has always been ensuring that the core gameplay experience remains consistent across all platforms. In that regard, I see it as a very positive sign that the core gameplay experience of REMAKE came across clearly on the Switch 2 as well.
Hamaguchi: My impression of the response to the Switch 2 version of REMAKE is that far more people embraced it in earnest than I had expected. In particular, the surprise and delight expressed over the fact that “a game of this scale can work so well on a handheld platform” gave the development team a huge boost of confidence.
I was also struck by just how many game fans were genuinely happy to see FFVII return to Nintendo hardware. Personally, as a fellow game fan, it was a deeply moving experience for me as well.
Of course, scaling to suit the hardware’s characteristics is necessary, but our top priority has always been ensuring that the core gameplay experience remains consistent across all platforms. In that regard, I see it as a very positive sign that the core gameplay experience of REMAKE came across clearly on the Switch 2 as well.
Thanks again to Square Enix for the opportunity. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is available now for PlayStation 5 and PC (Steam), with the game releasing for Nintendo Switch 2 and Xbox Series X|S on June 3.