Final Fantasy VII Remake,” the PlayStation 4 action RPG remake of the original 1997 game for the first PlayStation, finally has a release date for next year. That makes it close to four years since Square Enix released the first teaser trailer for the heavily anticipated title back in 2015.

Said teaser was one of the highlights of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) of that year. The latest E3 for 2019 is currently ongoing. But Square Enix surprised fans by revealing a new trailer with the released date somewhere else. Regardless of the venue, “Final Fantasy” fans can now mark their calendars on March 2020.

The remake arrives next year

When gamers were expecting new info on “Final Fantasy VII Remake” for E3 Monday, June 10, Square Enix got the jump on everyone during a “FFVII” soundtrack concert in Los Angeles, according to C|Net. At the concert event “A Symphonic Reunion” in the Dolby Theater, attendees were surprised when a trailer for the long-in-development PlayStation 4 game was suddenly shown on the screen. Having already shown several gameplay and story segments from recent trailers, the storied developers of the “Final Fantasy” series outdid themselves by revealing some new stuff ahead of the release date reveal.

For those who have seen promotional images of the original “FFVII,” the initial shot of main character Cloud Strife at the foot of the Shinra headquarters building might be nostalgic.

Then some new story footage follows of Shinra executive (and game boss) Heidegger reporting about the AVALANCHE resistance fighters to the company president (before his son Rufus takes over). Next is a showcase of more battle gameplay, with the player switching from Cloud to Barret. There are more scenes of the prologue section of the story, plus the aftermath of the first boss fight.

The trailer ends with Cloud encountering strange phenomenon upon meeting the flower vendor Aerith before the “Final Fantasy VII” titles and worldwide release date appear (03.03.2020).

More details coming at E3

The Verge adds that Square Enix quickly informed social media of that little sneak peek, with “Final Fantasy VII Remake” co-director Tetsuya Nomura writing about it on the game’s official Twitter page.

He also adds that more announcements regarding the status of “FFVII” will be revealed, as expected, this Monday during the company’s keynote speech at E3 2019. Apparently, the latest trailer shown might have only been a short version, with the full iteration going to be screened at the Los Angeles Convention Center today.

A remake of the iconic “Final Fantasy VII” game took root in 2003 after a Square Enix tech demo for the PlayStation 3 at the time generated plenty of positive feedback. Serious development of the game, this time for the PS4, did not start until 2015, with news updates so sporadic that gamers tend to think the remake has stalled.