Final Fantasy VII, VIII PC likely headed to Steam at last

New entries and edits to the back end of Steam seem to indicate that the PC versions of Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII are set to make their way to the platform. 

It's been a long road for the old Eidos-published PC ports of the PS1 classics. In June 2011, we reported that the files of FF7 and FF8 were both within the Steam registry - and with investigation, revealed that the files of the latter game had been edited by Square Enix relatively recently. We believed that the digital rerelease of the PC versions of both games had been cancelled - those ports don't hold up well.

Just over a year after our report, Square Enix announced that FF7 would recieve a 'remastered' digital PC release - but that it would be exclusive to Square Enix's own web store. The game featured enhancements such as achievements, cloud saves, and the all-important ability to run relatively smoothly on modern PC hardware. Steam fans, however, were left in the cold.

That may not be the case for much longer. There's been a flurry of activity about the FF7 and FF8 entries in the Steam database over the last few weeks - and most notably of all, the EULA (End User License Agreement) for FF7's Steam entry has been updated. The steam ID number this EULA is attached to matches up to our information from 2011.

The EULA makes repeated mention of SEL - Square Enix Limited - the London-based operation that was birthed out of the ashes of Eidos and masterminded last-year's enhanced rerelease. The EULA also refers directly to the game as "[REMASTERED] FINAL FANTASY VII," which seems pretty cut-and-dry to us. 

What of FF8? There's no EULA attached to that game, but its entry remains in Steam - and there's even been movement there. Over the past few days the game ID associated with FF8, 39150, has begun to have achievements added to it. The achievements feature mention of various GFs and Eidolons, Weapon Upgrading, SeeD Salary, Gil, Drawing Magic and the Obel Lake Secret - all tentpole features of FF8.

We'll bring you more on this as it transpires, and we've contacted Square Enix for comment - but we think it's fairly safe to assume that these are coming.