Oops, the Crisis Core remaster forgot about this watermarked stock image

Oops, looks like someone at Square Enix forgot to fork out some image licensing fees. Either that or Getty Images is now officially part of Final Fantasy 7’s lore. The Crisis Core remaster just released and, as noted by Kotaku (opens in new tab), has left one pesky stock image in several locations.

A Shinra mansion in chapter 8 has numerous antique paintings dotted around, including the offending Gettyfied artwork. It’s not too noticeable from a distance, but get up close and you can clearly see the watermark plastered across the middle of it. Kotaku notes at least three locations throughout the mansion where you can see the offending painting—an 1881 piece (opens in new tab) by John Crowther, depicting London’s Ludgate Circus. The painting has been zoomed in and stretched to fit a horizontal frame and apparently, it wasn’t possible to stretch it enough to get rid of a giant watermark. 

The question that remains unanswered is if this is a lingering hiccup from the original PSP version. No doubt it would’ve been much harder to spot a watermark on a four-inch screen than it is on one six or seven times bigger than that. It’s also unknown if Square Enix was being a bit cheeky in trying to get away with paying for licensing—this image alone is around $450 USD—or if it was a placeholder that it forgot to get rid of before release.

In her Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion review (opens in new tab), Kerry Brunskill had high praise for the remaster. She awarded it an 86, writing: “Crisis Core Reunion is an engrossing action-RPG with no patience for fluff or filler, and a game that escapes Final Fantasy 7’s long shadow with ease,” adding that “between the Pixel Remasters, Tactics Ogre, and now this, it’s clear Square Enix’s back catalogue is in safe hands.”