Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Is the Largest PlayStation 5 Game of All Time
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is so large it has to be released on two Blu-rays.
This year’s Summer Game Fest featured a fresh gameplay trailer for Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, with the announcement that the game would launch sometime in early 2024. But the most interesting part of the announcement is the fact that the game would ship on two Blu-Ray discs, making Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth the largest PlayStation 5 game of all time.
As reported by Eurogamer, the upcoming Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth will ship out on two 100GB Blu-Ray discs as a PlayStation 5 exclusive. The latter is fantastic news all in itself; the current generation of gaming hardware has been criticized across the board due to a lack of exclusives and first-party triple-A games—which don’t suck or aren’t delayed into the next decade. But the news about the two discs is particularly interesting, especially to the generations of players who remember the original Final Fantasy 7 release for the PlayStation in 1997.
Sony’s PlayStation 5 console is a real powerhouse when it comes to computational power, and it’s capable of outputting incredibly detailed, near-photo-realistic graphics. These graphical assets, along with other game resources, require a lot of space, which is why Sony equipped the PlayStation 5 with 100GB Blu-Ray disc capabilities. For comparison, 100GB Blu-Ray discs have a 154 times greater capacity compared to the CD-ROM optical media used by the original PlayStation. So, to ship out Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth on not one but two 100GB Blu-Ray discs could mean several things.
Back in the glorious Silver Age of Gaming—when Sony dominated the market thanks to its use of the CD-ROM—having a game release that shipped on several CDs spoke volumes about the title. In retrospect, multi-CD releases were typically associated with groundbreaking and revolutionary triple-A titles. The original Final Fantasy 7 was released as a three-disc game, and it became one of the most iconic and beloved games of the era. Having the new game released on several discs as well could actually spell the same for the game’s future.
Another noteworthy thing is that having physical copies of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth significantly cuts down on the game download time—which could take up to 2.5 hours for a 200GB game at average download speeds. For comparison, the hardware capabilities of the PlayStation 5 could copy the aforementioned 200GB onto storage three times faster than it would take to download the game. This significantly cuts down on the wait time for those eager to immerse themselves in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.
It has become a norm for publishers to deliver physical copies of their games which contain very little game data and a download key for said titles. This means that while the disc copies certain files onto the console’s storage, players still have to wait for the digital launch—Early Access editions excluded—to download the rest of the game and be able to play it. Of course, they would need to keep the discs, as these contain download keys—proof that they bought the game.
So, releasing Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth on two discs has another benefit, assuming that the discs really contain game files. It makes the game playable right out of the box, without any download—or very little of it—needed. It also makes the game accessible locally, which would likely save the title from oblivion. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth still has no official release date, but the game is expected to launch in early 2024, with physical copies of the game coming on two 100GB Blu-Ray discs—how exciting!
