As part of the Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival 2026, a collaboration was announced with Final Fantasy VII centered around the theme of the new raid series. We had the opportunity to talk with Director Naoki Hamaguchi about it.
During the opening ceremony of the Final Fantasy 14 Fan Festival on July 25, 2026, the theme of the raid series of the new expansion “Evercold” was revealed, which will be released in January 2027: Final Fantasy 7.
Under the name “Beyond the Lifestream,” there will be a complete, independent storyline and a total of 12 new raids that will merge the world of Final Fantasy 7 into Final Fantasy 14.
We were able to speak with Naoki Hamaguchi, the Director of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake, especially the parts Rebirth and Revelation, about the close collaboration between the two teams and what makes the new raid series special. You can read his answers here in our interview.
An ambitious collaboration with passion
MeinMMO: First of all, thank you for this opportunity. It’s truly an honor to meet you. I must admit, I was very excited when the new raid theme was announced. As someone who frequently plays raids and grew up with Final Fantasy 7, it is honestly a dream come true to see these two games connected.
What was your first thought when it became clear that this collaboration would happen? What was the most important thing for you and your team at the beginning of the planning?
Naoki Hamaguchi: The starting point was really when Yoshida-san and I were discussing the release windows and dates of our various projects. Obviously, Evercold in January and Rebirth in spring. Quite close. And then, instead of just having Evercold in January and Rebirth in spring, isn’t there something that we can do together as Final Fantasy games to really energize the series as a whole? That was the starting point.
It would be a bit strange if things from 14 started popping up at the end of Rebirth or something like that. So after a lot of discussion, we decided that the best way to go for the fans as well would be for a big all-out collaboration with 7 in the world of 14, which we’re fully supporting on the development side as well.
Final Fantasy 7 is a massive IP in the games industry. So, when creators are given the opportunity to work with 7, they tend to think, “we need to go all out.” So when we received the initial plot and proposal from the 14-team, it was pretty impressive.
We took that passion on board; we said, “We see you, we love that”, but obviously, there are certain things about the Final Fantasy 7 world and lore that we want to make sure that we’re preserving and staying faithful to. So we really sort of had a collaborative communication process, and it’s still ongoing as we refine the story and what we’re doing.
A raid series focused on story and characters
MeinMMO: Were there things that were particularly important to you and your team that you definitely wanted to see in Final Fantasy 14? I mean, other than Sephiroth, of course.
Naoki Hamaguchi: Well, I can’t really go into much more detail on the characters, the world, and the lore. Especially since we didn’t say it on stage, so I probably shouldn’t say it here. While I can’t talk too much about the specific content, what I can say is that the range of themes and ideas from the Final Fantasy 7 Remake that it’s looking at is really quite broad and wide-ranging. So I hope you’ll look forward to the next update where we’ll be able to give some more information on that.
When I asked the people on the stage who they wanted to see, everyone was shouting so many different answers that I really couldn’t hear any of them.
MeinMMO: If you had to explain to the players in one sentence what they can look forward to the most with the new raid series, what is it that makes it so special, what would you say?
Naoki Hamaguchi: I think it has to be that the world of 7 is coming into the world of 14 and how that’s all connected and is being built up anew. Obviously, we want players to enjoy the battles as well, but I think it’s the story and the lore that I really want people to pay attention to.
Here you can watch the trailer for Final Fantasy VII Revelation:
MeinMMO: Speaking of lore and story, what significance will the bosses have in the storyline of the raid series?
Naoki Hamaguchi: It’s a secret! I probably better not say anything; otherwise, Yoshida-san is going to come and be like, “Hey, why are you telling them everything there?!” So, um, it’s a secret.
MeinMMO: What would you say connects the two games the most?
Naoki Hamaguchi: Personally, and I’m sure Yoshida-san feels the same about this, there are lots of different genres of games. I think the most important thing for me when I look at it is how the story and the gameplay experience are coming together to deliver that.
So whether you’ve got a single-player RPG, whether it’s an MMORPG like the one Yoshida-san’s team is creating, or a live service game of some other type, it all comes down to how the world and the lore are incorporated and how compelling that is. I think fundamentally there is that connection between lots of different games.
The challenges and potential of the teams
MeinMMO: Were there challenges in bringing the two different “Final Fantasy” titles together? Were there points where you had to make bigger compromises that you hadn’t thought of before?
Naoki Hamaguchi: This isn’t so much a compromise, but obviously Final Fantasy 14 has its established lore and world, and so does 7. And then it’s “how do we make them both work with each other.” It’s obviously not just applicable to 15 and 7 but to anytime you have a collaboration with any game. You have to figure out how it is going to work together.
For example, if you have Cloud turn up and say, “I am Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy 7,” you have to figure out how that would work in 14. And then the fans would sit there and think, “So what’s happening in the world of 7 while he’s over here? What is going on there? Where has he gone?”
You have to be very careful about the rules and how exactly the logic of this crossover works, whatever crossover it is you are working with. So that is something we have to be quite mindful of.
With raids in Final Fantasy 14, they have their own rules and ways of working as well. So when we say we want to have this character, we have to think about how that character from 7 would fit into the raid format and how that works. How can we achieve what we are trying to do? We have a lot of those conversations.Â
MeinMMO: What is it like to work on Final Fantasy 7 and Final Fantasy 14 at the same time? Are there any particular challenges involved?
Naoki Hamaguchi: Essentially for the collaboration, the development work is mostly handled by the 14 development team, and we’re really involved with the story, the ideas, and that initial phase. One thing we do have to be extremely mindful of is that there is the regular patch schedule for 14.
So we need to be coming up with realistic ideas and amount of work. Both teams are extremely passionate and motivated about this. So we have come up with quite a lot of content, and I am sure that we are working the 14 development team quite hard, and I apologize to them for that.
MeinMMO: If you could develop a completely new job or content type for Final Fantasy 14, what would it look like and would it be connected to your experience from the development of Final Fantasy 7?
Naoki Hamaguchi: I don’t think I should sit here and say, “Oh, I want to put this job or this content in” because I’ll just get out, and they’ll be writing articles like, “Hamaguchi-san said he’s going to put this job in 14!” And I’m not a 14 developer, so I won’t answer that.
But what I will say is that we on the 7 Remake-Team have really been focused on character-driven storytelling, which is something that the 14-Team does as well, but we both approach that in very different ways. So hopefully that’s something that our teams could both inspire each other with.
At the same time, we’ve been focused on a single-player RPG experience, while Final Fantasy 14 has an amazing breadth of knowledge on a multiplayer game. I just think there’s a huge amount of knowledge and experience from both teams to draw upon and inspire each other. And hopefully that’s exactly what the collaboration will turn into.
A thought experiment to conclude
MeinMMO: To conclude, here’s a more creative question: If Cloud and Tifa were born in Eorzea, what would their life look like? What role would they play in the world and the story of Final Fantasy 14 – what do you think?
Naoki Hamaguchi: If a character is born in a completely different world, then their entire destiny and life is going to be completely different! I don’t have the inspiration for this right now. So, let me ask you, what do you think they would do? Do you think they would be childhood friends as well?
MeinMMO: Oh, honestly, I would say yes. Because I believe the chemistry between the two and their entire connection exists on a very special level that could even define their fate in Eorzea.
Naoki Hamaguchi: But then in the world of 14, who would Cloud look up to as a hero and say, “I’m leaving home to become like them”? You know, who would that be?
MeinMMO: Well, maybe the Warrior of Light? I think he would also be a decent Warrior of Light himself.
Naoki Hamaguchi: Possible. I think the possibilities are just endless. If you talk about Cloud and Tifa, who were brought up together in Niflheim, and what if they had that background and were transported into the world of 14? You can sort of imagine how they’re going to adapt to that. But if they were born in the world of 14… well, then they’re probably completely different people.
To change the topic slightly, after the announcement of Revelation at Summer Game Fest, I actually went to a fan event in China. There were quite a few young fans of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake series over there, particularly in their teens and their 20s, and I saw how passionate they were about their fan-made works where they discuss alternate realities. And I thought, “This is a great idea.” Entertainment is a wonderful industry.
And I know there is a big fanbase of Final Fantasy XIV there as well. So, the next time I’m at a fan community event like this and they talk about their ideas for alternate realities, I’ll ask them, “How do you think Cloud and Tifa would get on if they were born in Eorzea?”
MeinMMO: I would also love to hear the answers to that.
Final Fantasy XIV: Evercold and Final Fantasy VII: Revelation will both be released in spring 2027. Both games feature epic, emotional stories. In another interview with the Brazilian Omelete, Director Naoki Hamaguchi revealed how emotionally touched he is by the new installment: Developer completes his own game 40 times, cries with each run
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