In fairness, Square Enix did say that Final Fantasy VII Remake would ship well before the original April 10 release date due to COVID-19. But Australia seems to think that breaking the street date a full ten days before launch is just fine. Big games making it out of the gates early is certainly not a new thing, but it does make things a bit more complicated for anyone looking to avoid spoilers or not be inundated with unavoidable FF7R content on their YouTube or Twitch home pages. Screenshots shared by Kotaku show that our friends from a land down under are already scrapping for that sweet, sweet early streaming clout and flooding Twitch with Final Fantasy VII Remake streams.
And while the number of streamers currently showing the game is only a handful—as of this writing there are 5.5 thousand people watching around 40 streamers–it does mean that details about the game will end up bubbling up to the surface all around. This type of content is a YouTube gold mine for channels that can get a hold of major games early. One such channel known for archiving whole game scenes and fights early will often appear on the front page of YouTube thanks to the almighty algorithm, leading to spoilers that can only be avoided if you avert your eyes or stop looking at the front page altogether.
So for the rest of us around the world, all we can do is hunker down, avoid direct eye contact with the entirety of the internet, and wait our turn as the April 10 release date for Final Fantasy VII Remake approaches. Maybe we just give Australia a pass on this one and let it slide. After all, have you seen the size of the bugs down there? Who wouldn’t need a distraction?
