Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth creative director Tetsuya Nomura has issued a plea to fans ahead of the game’s February 29 launch, asking them to be respectful to other players when creating content based on the remake by refraining from spoiling “vital parts of the story” on social media and in video thumbnails.
“When posting anything that strongly relates to the game’s story on social media and video sharing sites, I ask that you please make sure to include spoiler warnings so as not to affect the experience of those who have yet to play the game,” wrote Nomura in a statement posted to X/Twitter. “I would also be very grateful if you could refrain from using any scenes from those vital parts of the story in your video thumbnails.”
Nomura went on to note that Square Enix chose not to disable the record and share functions for any parts of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, as doing so would restrict a player’s ability to comment on their gameplay experience.
“Still, I am making this request to ask for respect towards all the players out there who want to avoid any spoilers until they have personally completed the story,” Nomura continued.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is sure to spawn a plethora of spoiler-worthy moments, particularly among players who have yet to experience the iconic story of the original 1997 game.
However, Nomura's statement likely takes aim at one particularly infamous scene from the original, which will be alluded to here only as ‘the stabbening’, that has rekindled a debate over what constitutes acceptable spoilers for the plot of a game that has been out in the wild for almost three decades.
Regardless of whether you’re a Final Fantasy 7 veteran or going into Rebirth sight unseen, players would do well to make the most of IGN’s Rebirth guide to get the most out of Cloud Strife’s journey when the game launches exclusively on PlayStation 5.
Content creators should also be sure to avail themselves of the full list of sharing guidelines published on the Square Enix website. The demo for Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth also received an update earlier this week that grants players a preview of the Junon region, while also bringing a number of minor graphical fixes to the experience.
Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video gaming news for IGN. He has over eight years experience of covering breaking developments in multiple scientific fields and absolutely no time for your shenanigans. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer
