Square Enix announced that Final Fantasy 7 Remake is coming to PC at The Game Awards. PC fans of the series rejoiced, Xbox fans held out hope that the game would also come their way. Then, Square Enix listed the game on the Epic Games Store and the hype died considerably. That’s because Square Enix decided it would be charging next-gen game prices for the game on PC, meaning $70.
Naturally, fans were in an uproar across social media. PC prices being around $10 lower than consoles is practically sacrosanct. Even Activision didn’t dare to charge the same amount on PC as consoles for the latest Call of Duty game. There were calls for boycotts of Square Enix as a company, people saying to pirate the game instead, and generally resounding disapproval at Square’s choice of price.
Square Enix also listed its upcoming game, Forspoken on the Epic Games Store for the same $70 price. After a few days of backlash, the price for Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade has completely disappeared from the Epic Games Store page. Square has been officially silent on the pricing issue but the removal suggests the company was getting too much heat to keep the price up. There’s no indication on whether the price has been removed because it is going to be adjusted or whether it is just to stave off the backlash. Interestingly, Forspoken’s higher price is still showing on that page. Perhaps Square Enix intends to lower the price for Final Fantasy 7 while keeping higher prices for future games.
If Square doesn’t lower the price of Final Fantasy 7 Remake, then the furor is sure to start up again in a few days when the game is released. For now, potential purchasers of the game on PC are waiting to see what happens.