Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is advertised as coming out on two discs, a fact that’s become a bit of a meme. It seems odd for Square Enix to put such mundane info front and center out of all the things about the game it could share. After all, the original stretched over three discs, which is at least 1/3 more impressive. So, why do people care that FF7 Rebirth is coming out on two Blu-rays?
Why does it matter if Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is on two discs?
There are a couple of layers to the Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth two-disc meme. On a surface level, people are making memes because it’s silly to market these days if you take it at face value. However, one interesting thing is that since the PS5 can use BDXL discs, FF7 Rebirth could be up to 200 GBs. If that’s the case, it will take up more storage space than any other PS5 game to date.
However, I think another theory is the more likely answer for Square Enix’s bizarre marketing. We already saw the dual meaning of “remake” in the first game in the trilogy. So, what could “rebirth” refer to? Obviously, the story of Final Fantasy 7 is being reborn, but what if this is also referring to a character?
At the conclusion of Final Fantasy 7 Remake, we see Zack Fair somehow survived the battle near Midgar, where he lost his life in the original. We also see that this reality has inconsistencies with the one we experience throughout the game (such as the Shinra mascot Stamp being a different dog breed).
What if the catch with Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth spanning two discs is that each one is a different version of the game? The recent trailer shows Avalanche being carted away in stretchers. So, we may find that in one universe, Zack is left to fight Shinra and Sephiroth alone or with a completely different party, while the other more closely follows the original story.
We’ll learn more as the game’s release date of early 2024, but my bet right now is that “two discs” has more meaning behind it than just referring to the physical media the game comes on.