It seems the Final Fantasy 7 Remake pre-load date has been moved ahead from its original date.

Reports are beginning to surface around Reddit and ResetEra from players who are noticing that their Final Fantasy 7 Remake pre-load date is five days sooner than it was yesterday, with a date of April 2 instead of April 7.

This revelation comes on the heels of a press release where Square Enix announced it shipped its Final Fantasy 7 Remake physical copies to Europe and Australia early; the West's shipments would go out this week. This shift is Square Enix's response to the troubles plaguing shipping products right now amid the pandemic.

There has yet to be an official word from Square Enix regarding the reasoning behind this move. Regardless, there is speculation this is due to a desire to release the game digitally worldwide sooner.  The most logical and technically reasonable reason for this shift though could have to do with Sony's decision to slow the download speeds of PSN around the world. Final Fantasy VII Remake is a behemoth of a game, coming in at over 100 GB (two Blu-rays on physical). With such an anticipated game, they may need the extra days to allow players to download it in time.

My money is still in the early digital release camp. Square Enix is pushing strongly that people who receive the game early to not spoil the experience for those who don't yet have it. To quote the company, "All our fans and players deserve to experience the game for themselves, and we ask for the support of our dedicated community around the world to ensure that."  I stated that the best way to help do this would be to let fans around the world get it all at once, and releasing it digitally early would facilitate that. I feel like Monday or Tuesday next week would be perfect.

The Final Fantasy VII Remake Twitter account may be the best way to hear if any updates arise. Until then, this is all speculation.