Final Fantasy VII Remake Digital Pre-load starts today

The Final Fantasy VII Remake release has been handled by Square-Enix as best as it possibly could have been, under the circumstances. With a game as popular and anticipated as FFVII Remake, it would have been understandable for Square-Enix to postpone the release, until the world is functioning correctly again, and we could all get our copies at the same moment.

But Square-Enix opted instead to serve fans as best they could, even if that meant dropping the game early in some parts of the world. Many of my friends in Europe have been posting delighted photos of their copies of Final Fantasy VII Remake arriving in the mail, and so far the word on the game is extremely positive. 

Here in the United States, we haven't been quite that lucky (if anyone is actually "lucky" right now). However, even here, Square-Enix is making moves to help fans out.

Due to the stress on the internet during the Coronavirus crisis, PlayStation has throttled download speeds. The idea is that, across the board, these lowered speeds will put less pressure on the overall internet structure. It seems that everyone on Earth is either on Zoom, Netflix, or both.

It has been known for a while that the client size of Final Fantasy VII Remake is over 100 GB. Left as it was, between the size of the download and the lowered speeds, even digital purchasers might have been a little late to the party. The game would take simply forever to download. 

As a result, Square-Enix is making the early download available to players today, to ensure that we all get the chance to jump right in when the game releases on April 10th. 

“We know that due to the COVID-19 pandemic and many people having to stay at home, some of you may be experiencing extra pressure on your internet bandwidth. We wanted to give all our fans some extra time to download the game,” said the game’s producer, Yoshinori Kitase.

After that amazing demo, and the great feedback I'm hearing from the homies in England, I am beyond excited to jump into this game. I have a long history with this series, and I couldn't be more delighted to try the new version of this beloved classic. Read about some of my real-life adventures with the original game here. 

Some media companies are knocking it out of the park during this crisis. Disney+, HBO, Amazon Prime, and many others have done some pretty cool things to make staying at home a little less painful. Time to add Square-Enix to that list.