One of Square Enix’s most ambitious attempts to turn the wider Final Fantasy VII timeline into a single playable archive is approaching a permanent cutoff. The free-to-play RPG was built as what producer Shoichi Ichikawa called “Another Possibility for a Remake,” retelling Cloud and Zack’s stories while adding original material about a younger Sephiroth, Glenn Lodbrok, and the early years of SOLDIER.
As per GameRant, Square Enix says the problem was not simply a lack of players. The producer’s explanation points to a tougher live-service equation, and it’s the cost of maintaining high-quality weapon and costume visuals, the need for sufficient new equipment to sustain the gacha economy, and the difficulty of preserving gameplay balance while encouraging players to use a wider range of characters. Premium Red Crystal sales have already ended, although existing currency remains usable. The team will continue releasing updates through the shutdown, including the long-promised Before Crisis story in three parts across July and August, returning past content, new campaigns, Guild Battles, and a final saga chapter on September 6.
The game is Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis, which will end service on October 6, 2026, at 11:00 p.m. PDT, just over three years after its September 2023 mobile launch and December 2023 Steam release. After the servers close, the game will become inaccessible, and Square Enix says account information will eventually be deleted once shutdown procedures are complete.
Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive? The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars
Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you’d actually make it out of alive.
💊The Matrix
🔥Mad Max
🌧️Blade Runner
🏜️Dune
🚀Star Wars
01
You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do? The first instinct is often the truest one.
02
In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely? What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires.
03
What kind of threat keeps you up at night? Fear is useful data — if you’re honest about what you’re actually afraid of.
04
How do you deal with authority you don’t trust? Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything.
05
Which environment could you actually endure long-term? Survival isn’t just tactical — it’s physical, psychological, and very much about where you are.
06
Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart? The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are.
07
Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all? Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they’re actually made of.
08
What would actually make survival worth it? Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another.
Your Fate Has Been Calculated You’d Survive In…
Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for.
The Resistance, Zion
The Matrix
You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You’re a systems thinker who can’t help but notice the seams in things.
You’re drawn to understanding how the system works before figuring out how to break it.
You’d find the Resistance, or it would find you — your instinct for spotting constructed realities is the machines’ worst nightmare.
You function best when you have access to information and the freedom to act on it.
The Matrix built an airtight prison. You’d be the one probing the walls for the door.
The Wasteland
Mad Max
The wasteland doesn’t reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That’s you.
You don’t need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon.
You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it — and you’re good at all three.
You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider.
In the wasteland, that distinction is everything.
Los Angeles, 2049
Blade Runner
You’d survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely.
You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer.
In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional.
You’re not a hero. But you’re not lost, either.
In Blade Runner’s world, that distinction is everything.
Arrakis
Dune
Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards.
Patience, discipline, and political awareness are your core strengths — and on Arrakis, they’re survival tools.
You understand that the long game matters more than any single victory.
Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You’d learn its logic and earn its respect.
In time, you wouldn’t just survive Arrakis — you’d begin to reshape it.
A Galaxy Far, Far Away
Star Wars
The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn’t have it any other way.
You find meaning in being part of something larger than yourself — a cause, a crew, a rebellion.
You’d gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire’s grip can be broken.
You fight — not because you have to, but because standing aside isn’t something you’re capable of.
In Star Wars, that willingness is what makes all the difference.
No Offline Preservation for ‘Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis’ Has Been Announced
For players who’re still logged in, followed the story chapters, built teams, or waited years for Before Crisis material, the shutdown is more than losing another mobile game and that’s perhaps the saddest part. No offline version has been announced, which means Ever Crisis is currently set to disappear completely.
That hurts because the game gathered retellings, original Sephiroth material, seasonal scenes, character exchanges, weapons, and costumes that do not exist together anywhere else. Some of that material even fed back into the larger remake-era mythology, which gives it value beyond temporary live-service content. Players still have time to finish the final updates, but the lack of preservation means their attachment, progress, and memories will soon outlast the game itself.
Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis will end service on October 6, 2026, at 11:00 p.m. PDT. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
