Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis

6:50 Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis was a free-to-play mobile and PC game that retold the whole Final Fantasy VII saga in chapters, made by Applibot for Square Enix. It came out on iOS and Android on Sep 7, 2023, as TomLazan recounts at this moment in his history of the game, reached Steam in December 2023 after more than 7 million mobile downloads, and ended service on Oct 6, 2026, so it can no longer be played. It matters for Final Fantasy VII Revelation because its one original story, "The First Soldier", follows young Sephiroth and Glenn Lodbrok, who returns in Revelation, and because the first Revelation Story DLC is named "Sephiroth". This page also covers The First Soldier, the 2021 battle royale whose setting Ever Crisis's story shares.

Quick facts

What was Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis?

5:48 Ever Crisis was announced about two and a half years before it came out. TomLazan, who played it from the first day to the last, notes here that the Final Fantasy VII 25th anniversary livestream of June 2022 announced Rebirth and Crisis Core Reunion but not more Ever Crisis, and that when its trailer returned a year later it made plain what earlier showings had not: crystals, a stamina meter and a draw button, the signs of a gacha game. He was right about what the game became: its money came from drawing weapons, and the strongest needed many copies.

At launch, in his count, it held three chapters of the original story up to the party leaving Midgar, one chapter of Crisis Core, and three chapters of the new First Soldier story, with Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, Barret, Red XIII and Zack playable alongside the new trio of Glenn, Matt and Lucia.

11:19 The launch was strong. TomLazan cites 5 million downloads in the first week; Square Enix's own figure is more than 7 million on iOS and Android by the Steam launch three months later.

21:00 The Steam version arrived in December 2023 (Dec 6 in Square Enix's notice, Dec 7 in Square Enix's launch announcement), with save data shared with phones; TomLazan, who says he put hundreds of hours into it, valued it for the wider view of battles and a key for every command.

The First Soldier: young Sephiroth's story

3:40 The name comes from Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier, a 2021 battle royale for phones set roughly 20 years before the original game, in which SOLDIER candidates fight each other and monsters in Shinra's virtual-reality training, as GameSpot's timeline describes it here. That game has since been shut down.

4:14 Ever Crisis took its setting and told a new story in it. In GameSpot's summary at this moment, three Soldier recruits, Glenn Lodbrok, Matt and Lucia, are sent to the Wutai war and joined by Sephiroth, newly made "a new genetically modified rank of soldier", who tells them his time with them is the first time he has had fun in his life. It is the only official story of Sephiroth's youth before Crisis Core.

1:19:56 The First Soldier story ran across two episodes, the second following young Sephiroth further, and ended for good with "no tease for more", in TomLazan's words here.

Why Ever Crisis matters for Revelation

Two threads from Ever Crisis run into Revelation:

3:07 Final Weapon's Under the Plate podcast of Oct 8, 2026 expects exactly this: one host says here that the Sephiroth DLC is "going to be focusing on that First Soldier stuff", and the other agrees it is "the logical place".

7:06 Genesis VII makes the same case in his Oct 2, 2026 video, pointing to Ever Crisis's story of young Sephiroth, his friendship with Matt, Glenn and Lucia, and how he got his sword, and arguing it "could be great explored as a gameplay experience".

We agree, and we go further: we think the Sephiroth DLC retells The First Soldier story in Revelation's engine, with Glenn as the link between it and the main game. A story that existed only in a closed gacha game is exactly what Square Enix would want to keep alive in a product it still sells. Our prediction, with its check-by date, is on Predictions; what is officially known about the DLC is on Final Fantasy VII Revelation DLC.

The end of Ever Crisis

1:34:41 Square Enix announced on Jul 7, 2026, a month after Revelation's reveal, that Ever Crisis would end on Oct 6, 2026 at 11:00 PM PDT. TomLazan reads the notice here: to keep its promise of the complete Final Fantasy VII story "including the compilation titles", the team would release the untold Before Crisis story in three parts from July through August, and all paid purchases were removed. Square Enix apologized for "the abrupt nature of this announcement".

What the notice set out, as reported on Jul 7 and 8, 2026:

No offline version was announced. In our view the timing tells its own story: Square Enix closed its free Final Fantasy VII retelling in the same summer it opened pre-orders for the paid conclusion, and moved the one story only Ever Crisis told, young Sephiroth's, toward a paid DLC slot. The release of the Before Crisis story before the end also put the Turks' story, from a Japan-only mobile game, into a worldwide release for the first time, just ahead of a Revelation DLC named "Vincent & the Turks".

Frequently asked questions

Can I still play Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis?

No. Service ended on Oct 6, 2026 at 11:00 PM PDT on PC, iOS and Android, and account data is deleted after the end of service.

When did Ever Crisis come out?

On Sep 7, 2023 on iOS and Android, and on Steam in December 2023.

What is The First Soldier?

Two things: a 2021 battle royale for phones, now shut down, and the original story Ever Crisis told in its setting, about young Sephiroth with the recruits Glenn, Matt and Lucia.

Is Ever Crisis's story canon for Revelation?

Square Enix has not said so directly, but Glenn Lodbrok from its First Soldier story appears in Revelation, and Revelation's first story DLC is named after Sephiroth.

Do I need to know Ever Crisis to play Revelation?

No. The main game stands on its own. Knowing who Glenn is helps in Wutai, and the Sephiroth DLC may draw on The First Soldier story.

Sources

• RPG Site, Jul 8, 2026: Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis is shutting down on October 6
• Final Weapon, Jul 7, 2026: Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis is ending service on October 6, 2026
• Square Enix via Game Developer, Dec 7, 2023: Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis now available on Steam
• Square Enix, Sep 3, 2026: Final Fantasy VII Revelation releases April 8, 2027
• TomLazan, Nov 2, 2026: The Rise and Fall of Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis
• GameSpot, Mar 5, 2024: The Complete Final Fantasy 7 Timeline Explained
• Final Weapon, Oct 8, 2026: What Will Final Fantasy VII Revelation's DLC Actually Be About?
• Genesis VII, Oct 2, 2026: FF7 Revelation DLC Might Be MUCH Bigger Than Expected
• IGN, Sep 10, 2026: Final Fantasy 7 Revelation Has Incredible Combat, But It Needs to Stay Focused