On March 30, 2020, it was revealed that the game had been shipped early to some consumers in Europe and Australia to counter any potential disruptions related to the COVID-19 pandemic of the time. A playable demo of the game was released for PlayStation 4 on March 2, 2020, one day before the title's originally scheduled release date. The first part covers the events of Midgar from the original game. The first part of the project was set to be released worldwide on March 3, 2020, but the release date was pushed back to April 10. The debut gameplay trailer was shown on Decemduring PlayStation Experience 2015. The remake was a surprise announcement made on June 15 during E3 2015, after years of rumors and fan demand. The game is being developed by Square Enix's Business Division 1, helmed by Yoshinori Kitase as producer (the original director of Final Fantasy VII) and Tetsuya Nomura as director (original character designer known as the director for Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children and the Kingdom Hearts series). The Remake is a reimagining of the original game that goes deeper into the world and characters. The official title is Final Fantasy VII Remake to convey its status as a remake rather than a spin-off or sequel. The disc version of the first game is a two-Blu-ray Disc set.
Each game in the project will have a volume of content comparable to a standalone Final Fantasy game. The first portion of the game is entirely remade, using the story and characters from the original, and future portions will be released in parts. PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 Final Fantasy VII Remake is a partial remake of Final Fantasy VII, originally released for the PlayStation in 1997.