Final Fantasy

Final Fantasy is Square Enix’s flagship role-playing game franchise, created by Hironobu Sakaguchi and first released in Japan on December 18, 1987. The franchise has sold over 203 million copies worldwide as of June 2025, making it one of the best-selling role-playing franchises in history, and spans sixteen mainline numbered entries, the massively multiplayer online Final Fantasy XIV, dozens of spinoffs and sequels, and two theatrical films. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, the second part of the Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy, released February 29, 2024, on PlayStation 5, arriving on Xbox Series X and Series S and Nintendo Switch 2 on June 3, 2026. Final Fantasy XIV’s next expansion, Evercold, was announced April 30, 2026, for release in January 2027.

The Origins and the NES and SNES Era

Hironobu Sakaguchi created Final Fantasy at Square in 1987 as what he described at the time as his final project before leaving the games industry, a gamble that succeeded commercially and transformed into a franchise spanning four decades. The original game’s turn-based combat, job classes, and fantasy world-building set the template. Final Fantasy IV in 1991 introduced the Active Time Battle system and a story-driven approach that gave specific characters defined personalities and arcs. Final Fantasy VI in 1994 is the peak of the Super NES era, a sprawling cast ensemble in a world where magic had been suppressed for centuries and the villain Kefka achieved what most villains only threaten, pushing its narrative to a conclusion that changed what players expected RPG stories to attempt.

Final Fantasy VII and the PlayStation Revolution

Final Fantasy VII, released in Japan January 31, 1997, and in North America September 7, 1997, is the most commercially and culturally significant entry in the franchise’s history. The shift from 2D sprite art to 3D polygonal characters and pre-rendered backgrounds represented a technological leap that drew a mainstream audience to role-playing games that had previously been a niche genre outside Japan. Cloud Strife’s mercenary personality, Aerith Gainsborough’s death at Sephiroth’s hand at the narrative’s midpoint, and the ecological themes of the Mako energy crisis gave the game emotional and political dimensions that broadened the medium’s range of subjects. Final Fantasy VII has sold over fourteen million copies across its original release and subsequent ports and remakes. When I first got my PlayStation, Final Fantasy VII was one of the first games I played on it.

Final Fantasy VIII in 1999, Final Fantasy IX in 2000, and Final Fantasy X in 2001 each sold over six million copies and demonstrated the PlayStation era as the commercial and creative peak of the mainline series. Final Fantasy X was the first entry with full voice acting and the first to receive a numbered sequel in Final Fantasy X-2 in 2003. I loved playing Blitzball in X.

Final Fantasy XI, XII, and the Transition Era

Final Fantasy XI in 2002 was the franchise’s first massively multiplayer online entry, requiring a monthly subscription and representing a significant commercial risk that proved viable. Final Fantasy XII in 2006 moved combat to real-time programmable AI companions called Gambits and set its world in Ivalice, a shared setting with Final Fantasy Tactics, receiving strong critical reception while generating division among fans who preferred the series’ traditional turn-based structure. Final Fantasy XII celebrates its twentieth anniversary in 2026. The merger of Square and Enix in 2003 created Square Enix as the franchise’s current publisher.

Final Fantasy XIII, XIV, and XV

Final Fantasy XIII in 2009 received polarized reception for its linear design and the complexity of its battle system explanation requirements. Its protagonist Lightning became one of the franchise’s more recognizable modern characters across three games in the XIII subseries. Final Fantasy XIV launched in 2010 to a deeply troubled reception before a ground-up rebuild under producer Naoki Yoshida relaunched it as Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn in 2013, becoming one of the most successful MMORPGs in operation. Shadowbringers in 2019 and Endwalker in 2021 received some of the strongest critical reception of any Final Fantasy release in decades. The Dawntrail expansion followed July 2, 2024. Patch 7.5: Trail to the Heavens released April 28, 2026, and Evercold, the next expansion, was announced April 30, 2026, for a January 2027 release. Final Fantasy XV in 2016 built its story around four friends on a road trip through a world at war, with a development history spanning nearly a decade under its original working title Versus XIII.

Final Fantasy XVI and the Final Fantasy VII Remake Trilogy

Final Fantasy XVI released June 22, 2023, for PlayStation 5, directed by Hiroshi Takai and produced by Naoki Yoshida, the first mainline entry with an M rating built around a more overtly action-focused combat system and a darker political drama involving the exploitation of Dominants, humans who can summon Eikons. The game arrived on Xbox Series X and Series S with Xbox Play Anywhere support in 2024. Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles, a modern remake of the 1997 tactical RPG, released December 4, 2025, for Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation, Xbox, and PC.

The Final Fantasy VII Remake project began with Final Fantasy VII Remake releasing April 10, 2020, for PlayStation 4, retelling the Midgar section of the original game in full across a standalone entry. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth released February 29, 2024, for PlayStation 5, continuing Cloud and the party’s journey through the world beyond Midgar, arriving on PC January 23, 2025, and on Xbox Series X and Series S and Nintendo Switch 2 on June 3, 2026. The third and final part of the Remake trilogy is in development with no confirmed title or release date.