Whatever the public’s opinion of the trilogy Final Fantasy 7 Remakeit is undeniable that it is a huge project. In an era where AAA games tend to take quite a long time to develop, releasing three games of this scale in roughly seven years represents a significant achievement. However, the option to split the Japanese role-playing game into three distinct chapters is still a complicated move, and according to series director Naoki Hamaguchi, it’s unlikely to become a common practice in the industry.
Cloud does not repeat
In a recent interview with Final Weapon, Hamaguchi shared his predictions for the future of video game remakes. “I believe there will be remasters of popular games from the past,” the director said, before elaborating: “That said, a game like this, split into three games…I’m not sure there will be many; if any, there will be very few.”
There are practical and strategic reasons behind this belief. Hamaguchi recalls the complexity of such long-term planning. In addition to the financial risk, there may be negative sales or reviews for the first chapter, affecting the rest of the work, and Personnel management is very complex. In fact, the executive emphasized the “need to keep teams as unified as possible across all games,” a logistical aspect that could become a “headache” for the company.
In Final Fantasy 7: Revelations, you can automatically level up to avoid grinding
For these reasons, Hamaguchi believes the Square Enix-led campaign is likely to continue unique. “Not only is Final Fantasy 7 huge, but the scope of the Remastered series is huge, and in some ways, I don’t think any video game will ever come close to matching this again in terms of the scale of three games,” he concluded. “In that sense, I think the Final Fantasy 7 Remake series will be considered an exception. It’s something I’ll be proud of.”