Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy director Naoki Hamaguchi has offered a fresh look at what it’s like bringing big-budget games to Nintendo’s next console. While he calls the Switch 2 “a great piece of hardware,” he also makes it clear that the system’s specifications can still be a major hurdle for studios trying to deliver smooth performance and high-end visuals.
Hamaguchi points out an interesting bit of series history: the original Final Fantasy 7 was built with PlayStation hardware in mind, because Nintendo consoles at the time simply couldn’t support what the team wanted to achieve visually. Fast forward to today, and the Switch 2 is far more capable and much closer to modern consoles in overall ambition. Even so, he says developers are still running into hard limits when porting demanding games.
In his words, the Switch 2 specs are “a little bit on the lower-end side,” and that reality turned the Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade port into a tough optimization job. He also suggests this isn’t just a Square Enix problem, noting that he has seen “a lot of other publishers struggling” to get their games running smoothly on the platform.
That matters because 2026 is shaping up to be a huge year for third-party Switch 2 releases, with more projects expected to be shown in upcoming presentations. But Hamaguchi’s comments are a reminder that getting impressive-looking current-generation games onto a handheld-style console often takes extensive tuning and compromise. Even with modern upscaling solutions like DLSS, developers still have to contend with practical limitations such as memory constraints and cartridge capacity, which can influence everything from texture quality to how much content can be packaged and streamed efficiently.
The good news for fans is that, despite the technical challenges, Hamaguchi says the Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Switch 2 port is nearly finished. He explains the team is putting the “final polish” on the build, which suggests a release date announcement could arrive sooner rather than later.
Performance expectations will naturally be a big talking point. Remake Intergrade has been praised for stable frame rates and convincing lighting, which shows what’s possible when a port is carefully optimized. However, Rebirth raises the bar significantly with larger environments and more open exploration beyond Midgar. That expanded scale could make it harder to maintain the same level of image quality without some trade-offs.
For now, the takeaway is clear: the Switch 2 may open the door to more blockbuster third-party games, but getting them to look and run at their best won’t be effortless. Still, if Hamaguchi’s latest update is any indication, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth on Switch 2 is close to crossing the finish line.
