Square Enix

Today, on Final Fantasy VII 20th Anniversary, Square Enix held the Opening Ceremony in Tokyo to commence a year-long of celebration for the ranchise’s 30-year legacy.

Like with the previous 25th Anniversary, this Anniversary comes with a new logo (drawn by Yoshitaka Amano) and website (www.finalfantasy30.com) where fans can use the hashtag #FF30th to share their favorite experiences and stay up to date on the various events planned for the rest of the year.

During the event several announcements were made.

Final Fantasy VII Remake
Brand-new key art for Final Fantasy VII Remake was unveiled, depicting the game’s protagonist and mercenary Cloud and his iconic Buster Sword set to the background of Midgar, base of the Shinra™ Electric Power Company.

Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age
The release date has been announced: 11 July in North America and Europe. Japan 13 July.

Final Fantasy XV DLC
The first sneak peek at some of the upcoming DLC for Final Fantasy XV was showcased on-stage, highlighting the brand-new perspective players will experience in the coming months. The Final Fantasy XV Booster Pack (Free Version) and Final Fantasy XV Booster Pack + are scheduled for release on 21 February, and will be available for all players or Season Pass holders, respectively. The DLC content will include powerful items such as the invincible outfit, “Magitek Exosuit” that give players an advantage during battles.
 
Final Fantasy XV Episode Gladiolus releases on 28 March, and will be available to players who purchased the Premium Edition or Season Pass and can also be purchased separately via the Xbox Marketplace or the PlayStation Store. Through this DLC, players can enjoy an episode depicted from Gladio’s perspective. Gilgamesh, one of the franchise’s fan-favorite characters will also be making an appearance in the episode.

Final Fantasy Brave Exvius
Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, the full-scale Final Fantasy adventure for mobile devices that has achieved over 20 million downloads worldwide, recently began an in-game collaboration event with internationally renowned artist and actress Ariana Grande. All players will be able to acquire “Dangerous Ariana,” the Ariana Grande-inspired character exclusively designed for the game until 2 February by completing the first stage of the special in-game event, "Dangerous Woman Tour."
 
Mobius Final Fantasy
Mobius Final Fantasy, will be making its way to Steam next month on 6 February. The title offers an all-new RPG adventure featuring a deep story, stunning visuals, in-depth character customization and a refined turn-based RPG battle system. To celebrate over 10 million registered users worldwide and the 20th anniversary of Final Fantasy VII, various in-game bonuses and a special Final Fantasy VII Remake collaboration event will begin on February 7 for a limited time.

World of Final Fantasy is now available worldwide on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita! After North America got the game on Tuesday and Japan yesterday, Europe got the game today.

In World of Final Fantasy, players will lead a pair of twins, Reynn and Lann, on their journey through the mysterious world of Grymoire on a search to rediscover their lost memories. In this peculiar place, the young heroes will encounter over 200 unique and wonderful creatures, known as Mirages, and a whole host of legendary Final Fantasy characters. With an all-new battle system, players will capture customise and evolve their Mirages - stacking them up to defeat even the most ferocious of foes!

Manabu Daishima, graphics designer at Square Enix, has passed away on 30 July while diving at the age of 45. He was found unconscious 30 meters offshore from the Izo Kaiyū Kōen Diving Center in Ito, Shizuoka prefecture.

Manabu Daishima has worked on several (classic) titles for Square (later Square Enix):

• Final Fantasy IV (special thanks)
• Romancing SaGa (monster design)
• Secret of Mana (map graphics design)
• Chrono Trigger (field graphics)
• Final Fantasy VI: The Interactive CG game (graphic design)
• Radical Dreamers (graphics)
• SaGa Frontier (background graphics)
• Parasite Eve (battle effects and staff credits)
• Final Fantasy IX (field map designer)
• Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII (3D map and background design)
• Final Fantasy XII (3D map and background design)
• Seiken Densetsu 4 (background graphics)
• Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King (background graphics)
• The 3rd Birthday (background graphics)

Our thoughts and condolences are with Daishima’s family and friends at this sad time.

After Final Fatasy XII: Zodiac Age and World of Final Fantasy, Square Enix and Disney have revealed today a new gameplay trailer for the upcoming Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue and announced that it will be available this December on PlayStation 4.

Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue includes the HD version of the Nintendo 3DS version of Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance, Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep – A fragmentary passage, which runs on the same engine as Kingdom Hearts III and KINGDOM HEARTS χ [chi] Back Cover, a new tale that sheds light on the mysterious foretellers.