Square Enix is shutting down Final Fantasy 7 Ever Crisis, its gacha-focused mobile reimagining of the 1997 classic. The game will become completely unplayable once servers close, taking with it access to Before Crisis, a Japan-exclusive prequel that existed only within Ever Crisis's ecosystem.
Ever Crisis launched in 2022 as a free-to-play mobile adaptation designed to closely follow the original FF7's story, though its gacha mechanics and monetization model shaped the experience significantly. The game never gained traction outside dedicated Final Fantasy fans, and its discontinuation fits Square Enix's broader pattern of sunsetting mobile titles across its portfolio.
The real casualty here is Before Crisis, a prequel story that focused on the Turks, antagonistic operatives from Shinra Electric Power Company. This narrative existed exclusively within Ever Crisis and never received a standalone release. Once servers shut down, the story vanishes entirely. Players cannot download it, archive it, or access it through any official channel afterward.
This mirrors a persistent problem in the games industry: live-service titles and mobile games disappear when publishers decide support ends. Unlike retail releases, digital-only games leave no physical copies behind. Players who invested time and money into Ever Crisis lose everything.
Square Enix has not announced a timeline for the shutdown or stated whether Before Crisis content will be ported elsewhere. Given the company's track record with mobile games, neither outcome seems likely.
The closure underscores how dependent FF7's expanded universe became on mobile platforms. While Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth developed on PlayStation offer substantial single-player experiences, Ever Crisis represented Square Enix's attempt to monetize the IP through free-to-play engagement. That experiment failed commercially, and now entire canonical stories face erasure.