Final Fantasy VII Remake to ship to fans ‘far earlier’ than planned to avoid coronavirus delays

European and Australian markets are set to receive the game early in an effort to circumvent distribution issues

Square Enix’s highly anticipated PlayStation 4 game Final Fantasy VII Remake is set to ship to customers “far earlier” than planned in an effort to side-step coronavirus-related delays.

In a statement posted on Twitter, the game’s development team said: “We had some hard decisions to make during the final few weeks before launch, due to disruption to distribution channels caused by the spread of the COVID-19 virus.”

“Our highest priority is that all of you, including those who live in countries currently facing the biggest disruption, can play the game at launch, so we made the decision to ship the game far earlier than usual to Europe and Australia.”

Final Fantasy VII Remake is an updated, redesigned version of the 1997 PlayStation game Final Fantasy VII - which is widely considered one of the best video games of all time.

The recent announcement makes it highly likely that European and Australian customers who have ordered physical copies of the game will receive their discs earlier than the scheduled release date of 10 April.

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“We would like to ask one big favour,” wrote Yoshinori Kitase and Tetsuya Nomura, the game’s producer and director. “If you get the game early, please think of others and don’t spoil it for them.”

“Final Fantasy VII Remake is a new game that still has many surprises for everyone,” he continued. “All our fans and players deserve to experience the game for themselves, and we ask the support of our dedicated community around the world to ensure that.”

Those who have pre-ordered the digital copy of the game will, unfortunately, have to wait until 10 April to have access.