Director Naoki Hamaguchi says the trilogy’s final instalment’s development is at about the stage that Rebirth was at when the first game launched.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, the second instalment in Square Enix’s Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy, is out in a matter of days, and excitement surrounding its release is sky high. Given the very nature of the series and the rabid fandom the Final Fantasy 7 in particular generally goes hand-in-hand with, it’s no surprise, that there are many who also already have their eye on the trilogy’s third and final instalment as well. That, incidentally, includes Square Enix as well.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is not even out yet, but progress is already being made on its sequel. Speaking in a recent interview with YouTuber Julien Chieze, Rebirth director Naoki Hamaguchi revealed that the development team has “already made progress” on the trilogy’s final instalment, which is currently roughly in the same stage of production that Rebirth was when Final Fantasy 7 Remake launched in 2020.

“Of course, I cannot tell you what stage we are at, but we have already made progress on the script, and we are thinking about certain developments,” Hamaguchi said (via GamesRadar).

He added, “When we got to the end of the development for Remake, we started talking about a sequel with [writer Kazushige Nojima] and I think we can say that we are in the same situation today.”

If the final game in the Remake trilogy follows a roughly similar timeline to Rebirth, that would suggest that the two games will be separated by a gap of roughly four years- which would mean we’re looking at a 2028 release for the next game. Of course, that’s very much a rough estimate – game development is far from an exact science, after all – but it’s reassuring to hear that progress is already being made in Rebirth’s sequel.

Incidentally, shortly after the announcement of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth in 2022, creative director Tetsuya Nomura revealed that “some development” had “already begun on the third title”.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth launches for PS5 on February 29.