Even though Final Fantasy VII originally launched nearly 30 years ago in 1997, it continues to make news today with the recent launch of Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade on the Nintendo Switch 2 on January 22. The third and final installment of the Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy is expected to release around 2027, seeking to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the original game.
Final Fantasy VII is one of the most historically significant video games of all-time. It shifted the paradigm regarding what was possible in RPGs by transforming them into three-dimensional cinematic experiences with sweeping musical scores. In addition, Square's decision to develop FFVII for the PlayStation (instead of the Nintendo 64) helped establish the PlayStation as one the most dominant video game consoles of all-time.
Decades later, Square Enix chose to remake its most iconic game to leverage feelings of nostalgia for the 1997 game among older gamers, to appeal to a new generation of gamers who never played the original, and to utilize new technology to completely reimagine the game in a way they simply couldn't do in the 1990s. FFVII Remake sold 3.5 million copies in its first three days and became the third best-selling game of 2020.
For all of these reasons, the original 1997 FFVII game is a highly sought after and valuable collectible among video game collectors. During the past 365 days, FFVII ranks #3 on GoCollect's Hottest Video Games for the first PlayStation console, and currently rests as the 19th hottest game across all platforms.
WATA 9.8 copies of rare, early-production variants of this game with perfect factory seals (i.e., an A++) will easily sell for five figures. The most famous variant is the “Masterpiece” misprint where a printing error on the back cover of the box has the letter "i" in the word “masterpiece” misaligned and floating above the letter "r." Because this misalignment was corrected in subsequent releases, it became a highly desirable marker of mid-production early copies of the game. During the pandemic-fueled collectibles boom in 2021, this WATA 9.8 A++ copy of FFVII with the masterpiece misprinting sold for a whopping $33,600 in October 2021 during an auction hosted by Heritage:
About three months later, a WATA 9.8 A+ copy (a 9.8 box but has a less than perfect factory seal) sold for $32,400 in January 2022.
Since then, like the rest of the collectibles market, the value of FFVII has gone through a major correction; by November 2022, the present dollar value of a sealed Wata 9.8 had fallen precipitously to $3,630:
Since that low in November 2022, the present dollar value has experienced some volatility but has generally ticked up a bit with the one-year average of a 9.8 rising to $7,950. The last WATA 9.8 A++ sale with the masterpiece misprinting sold about two years ago for $15,000 on Heritage Auctions:
If in pristine condition, even copies of FFVII Remake can sell for hundreds of dollars. For instance, this WATA 9.8 A+ copy of FFVII Remake sold for a solid $180 back in June 2025:
