Squenix Fuels the FFVII Remake Fire

by Kev Lochun on February 7, 2008 at 8:55 am

First he says no; then he says maybe. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII director Hajime Tabata dangles the carrot and hints at what it would take for a FFVII remake. Hit the jump for more.

In a follow-up interview in OPM, he says:

“The conditions that are necessary to remake the game have not been met at this point. The possibility for a remake may become greater if, for instance, the schedules of the original members of the Final Fantasy VII development team, such as Kitase and Nomura, open up.”

So nothing confirmed, but I am still comforted by that. Like many others I’ve feared that any remake without the original team at the helm would be little more than a cash cow. As it turns out, the only member of the original team who isn’t still at Squenix or a regular on their books is grand imaginator Hironobu Sakaguchi, who since ran off to found Mistwalker. In all fairness him, if there was any one person from the team who could be missing, it’s the guy who came up with the initial concept.

Nomura and Kitase are currently ensconced creating FFXIII, as are the rest; so it’s a fair bet to say that a remake wouldn’t enter development until after it’s released, probably in 2009. But would it really? Last year, SE executive producer Shinji Hashimoto said they wanted “everyone to be sucked in to the [Fabula Nova Crystallis] world for ten years.”

Unless the Fabula Nova Crystallis flops – and let’s face it, Final Fantasy’s brand strength alone is enough to ensure it won’t - that places a FFVII remake on its 20th anniversary, in 2018.

Some carrot.

Check the scan from OPM.

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