Today marks 26 years since the launch of the turn-based RPG Final Fantasy VII in Japan, and in celebration of this anniversary, Square Enix has revealed that the game's anniversary date of January 31 is now officially recognized in Japan as Final Fantasy VII Day. Having confirmed the registration with the Japanese Anniversary Association, Square Enix did the honors of announcing the commemoration in a tweet published this morning on the official Final Fantasy VII Twitter page.In this tweet, Square Enix also shared an anniversary message from original Final Fantasy VII director Yoshinori Kitase, who is currently producing the still-in-progress Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy. "The day that Final Fantasy VII came out," Kitase muses, "was not just a significant day for the Final Fantasy series, but also marked when so many big things started moving for those of us who worked on the game."
Pictured in the tweet is the certificate of registration, officially marking January 31 as Final Fantasy VII Day in Japan. Another image also included in the tweet shows Kitase holding the framed certificate, surrounded on all sides by plushes of Final Fantasy VII hero Cloud Strife, villain Sephiroth, and a Moogle and Chocobo, mainstays if not mascots of the Final Fantasy series.
Fans worldwide have responded to the news with much jubilation, with many expressing excitement to celebrate Final Fantasy VII Day every year going forward. Many have been inspired by the news to share stories of their personal histories with the much-beloved RPG, while others have jokingly asked if the officially recognized anniversary may be extended into a globally observed public holiday.
Although it has been twenty-six years to the date since the original Japanese launch of Final Fantasy VII, the game is still renowned today as one of the most important games in the Final Fantasy series, if not one of the most influential games of all time. The first Final Fantasy title to move away from the series' fantasy setting, Final Fantasy VII was also the first Final Fantasy game to place a predominant emphasis on character and story. Its tale of identity and personhood, love and loss, death and rebirth, is one that still resonates with fans the whole world over.
Though famously a PlayStation exclusive for many years, Final Fantasy VII eventually found its way to Nintendo via a port released for the Nintendo Switch in 2019. Today, the game can be enjoyed on the PlayStation 4, PC, Switch, and mobile devices, with the ongoing Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy currently exclusive to PlayStation and PC. The second game in the trilogy, titled Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, is set to release in winter this year.