The conclusion of the Final Fantasy XIV Fan Fest in Berlin brought with it a lot of new updates for Evercold, the game’s upcoming expansion due in January of next year. We got new information on one of the expansion’s two new classes, more details on the story and tweaks to the game’s battle and questing systems, and all the ways players will be able to customize their characters because of course, glamour is the endgame. And one particular announcement—that Evercold‘s raid series will be a crossover with Final Fantasy VII Remake—has the fandom up in arms.
Presenting a FINAL FANTASY XIV x FINAL FANTASY VII Remake crossover: Beyond the Lifestream—the Evercold raid series developed in collaboration with @finalfantasyvii! pic.twitter.com/wzkPKFpQky
— FINAL FANTASY XIV (@FF_XIV_EN) July 25, 2026
On the one hand, I get it. Final Fantasy fans have been inundated with this one iteration of Square Enix’s storied franchise for decades now, even before the remake trilogy kicked off back in 2020. And as exciting as that remake trilogy is, I’m kinda tired of seeing Cloud’s ass, too. If I played Final Fantasy XIV to get away from all that, I’d be pissed like some fans are.
Having both raid series be crossovers is very overkill. Why must i go and watch a boring anime and a play 3 new RPG games costing upwards of £150 total to understand the raids in my MMO?
I hope the expansion after Evercold has 2 original raid series to make up for this!
— 「 Xavier Maganti 」 (@JamieCharlesEl1) July 25, 2026
Collabing on BOTH raid types right at the start of what is supposed to be a new storyline is definitely a choice
What a wasted opportunity to start adding new lore pic.twitter.com/m2gXqK8WPq— 🗡️🐍RedPanda 🇪🇭 🇵🇸 (@Surgiote) July 25, 2026
There’s also a lingering sentiment among players that holding a crossover with the Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy now (rather than having one earlier in the trilogy’s lifecycle) is a sly attempt to win back lapsed players or earn new ones who are in the FF ecosystem but never dabbled in the MMO. A lot of players checked out of the game during Dawntrail, the most recent expansion whose story was just not as strong as those of previous expansions (following up Endwalker was always gonna be tough) and adding stuff from the big daddy Final Fantasy entry to the MMO certainly feels like an “in case of emergency, break glass” scenario.
And it’s almost certainly gonna work, too, because for as much as I don’t wanna see Sephiroth’s 34-inch white-blonde buss down on my screen anymore, I will show up for a chance to hear composer Masayoshi Soken’s take on One Winged Angel.
Hyped!!! Just imagine soken meddling with FFVII music !! 😍
— Alysson Correia (@alyscs) July 25, 2026
I can‘t wait!! My 2 favorite final Fantasy‘s together at last!! 🥹⚔️
— Valentinoscreativestudio (@m_valentinoart) July 26, 2026
ITS ABOUT TIME, AAAAAAA pic.twitter.com/o8X1sqE3kJ
— Leo | Digimon Savers + FFVI (@MidnightKolrath) July 25, 2026
THE PERFECT WAY TO CELEBRATE THE 30 YEARS OF FINAL FANTASY 7 HELL YEAH BROTHER!!!!!!!!!!
— Roegamaniac: Brother of Positivity 🇵🇷 (@roegamaniac) July 25, 2026
I was going to show up for other reasons too, of course. I’m glad the story seems to be returning to where Endwalker left off. That expansion’s story obliterated my emotions to the point where if I never played Final Fantasy XIV again, I’d be happy with where Endwalker left me. If Evercold can somehow carry forward that emotional thread, then yeah, I’m thinkin’ I’m back. Regardless of how I or any other fan feels about this crossover, this was always going to happen. Incorporating elements from the single-player Final Fantasy games was always part of FFXIV‘s DNA. The timing is a bit curious but hey, that’s just brand synergy for you.
