Kitase: Final Fantasy VII remake will take 5 years

Er, no, FFXIII will take a lot of man hours as well, it's just that it's also guaranteed to sell a fuckload more than a remake of a then-11 year old game. So as I've always been saying, the ROI is far, far higher and as such more of a guaranteed success.

ROI?

I suppose it'd sell a lot more, but FF7 isn't eleven years old. I think it's going on nine this summer... Oh... Well, then again, maybe that ten years by the original Japanese release. God, that game is pretty old, isn't it? I know people that would much rather buy a redone FF7 because of their love of Cloud as opposed to a new FF game(since they hated 8-X2). Suppose that's why they're doing all of these compilation games as opposed to just making new games. They know the FF7 name will sell it regardless of gameplay.

Then again, I'd settle for a prettied up version, kind of like FF Origins/Dawn of Souls. I realize it wouldn't be as easy, but still, would save it from being a 5 year 300 man job. How many people worked on FFX anyways?

Return on investment.

Like I said, FFVII would be about 11 years old by the time the game that will take them 3 years to make will be released.

Make sure you don't predict market activity based on your friends' or your own interests, or by anecdotal evidence. The fact of the matter is that FFVII, while popular, is not going to sell as much as FFXIII if it were to be remade. So putting as much money into it as into FFXIII is a waste of money, comparatively. And we all know the fans who do want a FFVII remake wouldn't settle for anything less than a full quality 100% Final Fantasy title.

The amount of people working on FFX is significantly less than will be working on FFXIII because FFXIII is for next-gen consoles, which obviously require a heftier budget and more manpower to do the same amount of work. So there you go.

Bam.

"he amount of people working on FFX is significantly less than will be working on FFXIII because FFXIII is for next-gen consoles, which obviously require a heftier budget and more manpower to do the same amount of work."

I know that... I wanted to see some actual numbers though. I know FF7 had like 100 people, and they make 300 sound like a huge number. Granted its 3x as much, but I'm curious to know how many FFX had to see how the bridge between the two (FF7 and FFXIII) is. Also, after reading the article in EGM, they make note the biggest problem isn't the manpower or fanbase, but the fact that the key people that would have to be involved are currently tied up. Sucks, maybe for 15th anniversary we'll see FF7 remade.

Umm, man power has to be an issue. If a big team is pulled together to make say FFXIII, then Square-Enix would find it hard to find the man power for a remake. They don't have limitless supplies of people you know, it's just common sense. What would make more money for them? The next FF title, or a remake? This is a permanent issue, as each new FF title will bring them truckloads of money. Think about it. After Rahul initially explained it I had to agree, it makes very little sense for a remake to be made. Regardless of man power, it would just be crap.

Man power is an issue, and the key people being tied up is something I noted in the main news article (which was taken from the EGM interview).

eh, the interview doesn't list man power as an issue, they just list what's needed and it's not priority enough to break from their plans already in motion (probably FFXII). Nomura - "But I have so many projects already in the pipeline that it would be difficult to squeeze it in...perhaps if the timing is just right, though. It's a very interesting prospect..."

Dunno, I think it's more of a they had stuff setup before they got such an enormous response for their tech demo and realized fans would die for it. Say what you will, but I honestly don't think 300 people would be any worse off than any other FF title to date in terms of manpower.

Uh, actually Rahul, a remake of FF7 would by far and away outsell a new FF title. The outpouring of fan support since the release of the tech demo has been more tremendous than Square could have possibly anticipated. And given all of the FF7-related products slated for release, Square is well aware that FF7 is, and will always be, their best selling title. So, in conclusion, not only would a remake of the best game of all time be amazing, but it is without question in Square's financial interests as well. FF7 on the PS3 would likely be the best selling release of all time, especially given all the hype around FF7 as of late. Sorry, but no one in their right mind can agree that FFXIII would outsell the God-like status of FF7.

Well I can't agree with that. Why? Final Fantasy VII is my favourite game, ever. I would not approve of a remake after discussing this with Rahul and others in previous news posts. It would suck, they would add a bunch of new things that would ruin the game. If they didn't, it'd be the same game but with better graphics and sound. They DO NOT need to remake this game.

Why is it then that the FFVII series of projects so far does not include a remake? Because rather than waste time and money for a product I think would be crap, they instead make a smart move and add new layers to the story. What happened after the game? What happened before?

We already know what happened in the game, I own it and have played it a fair bit. The only way I think I can improve my FFVII experience is by learning Japanese to a level in which I can comfortably play the untranslated original.

What makes you king of Square-Enix finance? How is it your right to say what will sell and what won't? Clearly Square-Enix will consider this, and irrelevant of what we think they will decide based on the $$$ figure.

Frankly, I would far prefer a new title in the series than a remake. Think about Nomura, now he's Kingdom Hearts man as well, he can't be everywhere. People have also left Square-Enix, and although Uematsu and Nojima are still working for them on AC, that doesn't mean it's easy to do anyway. Like Uematsu isn't making full game soundtracks these days for S-E. He didn't even do AC by himself. You would be ruining the original game experience with new people, they can use their genius in newer titles.

Oh, and just because the article doesn't say 'manpower is an issue' doesn't mean it's not one. I would rather S-E spent 5 years and 300 people on a new title, another fantastic title to add to my collection. Not some half-baked remake that only serves to make me a sad panda.

A Final Fantasy 7 remake does sound promising, but 5 years?! Well, updated 3D models, maps, special effects and higher-resolution cutscenes would be nice. Heh! Maybe in 5 more years, Nintendo and SquareEnix will work together well enough for the re-release of FF7 on the next Nintendo console! The one after the so-called "Revolution."

By far, FF7 is surely one of the best RPG's ever made, next to Chrono Trigger and the Legend of Zelda.

There's a cracked idea! Let's see a remake of the first Legend of Zelda game in 3D! It may ONLY take 10 years!

You kids are kidding yourself if you think a FF7 remake would make more money than a traditional sequel. Keep believing, though!

You're not 'in your right mind' Rahul. Better get that checked out.

Lol, the notion that yet another generic title trying to capitalize off of FF7's model of success would outsell it, is purely comical, Rahul. And Nephtis, if I take your word at the fact that you are indeed a true FF7 fan (which I'm seriously inclined to doubt), then you are in the minority if you are disappointed at the potential of a sequel. The vast majority of FF7 fans would kill to see a remake. So, if we're talking sheer numbers here, the fact remains that more people would want to see a remake than not. So, while your opinion is noted, I'll subsequently disregard it in light of the astronomically larger portion of fans that would kill for a remake.

Whatever happen to leaving the past as it is??? I mean, they've already cannabalized the game for three game sequels and a movie...a remake seems a little much.

Remake the less classic games, please. It's like movies- They remake The Longest Yard, not Citizen Kane.

dude, Jenova, you have to learn to think outside the fucking box.
Youre bascially saying that no Final Fantasy will ever surpass or outsell VII. What the fuck? Listen to yourself! Are you saying its the perfect game? Are you dumb?
Problems with VII:
WORSE FF MUSIC EVER
bad replayability
Cait Sith
leveling up materia is a chore

Final Fantasy VII has the abilty or potential to be better than VII, you dont know it, I dont know it, Jesus doesnt know it. XIII also can be better, why replay something you already know? Are you really that much of a graphics whore? You speak in absolutes, which gives me the notion that you dont really have ANY numbers at your disposal, you probably came to that conclusion because the people around you think that way.. its kinda like how everyone thought George Bush was going to win the elections because the media was against him.. but that does not really represent what most people want.
My point is, if you remake Final Fantasy VII then POTENTIALLY all the people who enjoyed FINAL FANTASY VII will buy it. You make a NEW Final Fantasy, then POTENTIALLY all the people who enjoyed ANY Final Fantasy will buy it. That, is no fabrication, that is the common sense that you seem to be ignoring at the moment

I'm glad you think you know what you're talking about, Jenova. Fortunately, you're not in control of Square Enix (and neither is Sakaguchi), or it'd no longer exist.

Feel free to continue thinking you have insight into other peoples' minds and your armchair executive position means anything, though. Good luck!

TRS I have to commend you for being able to use your keyboard's caps lock key so effectively. For those of you who have played FFXI, you'll have a clear understanding of the following...

>> TRS: {Hello!} {English} {Can I have it?}

It is my opinion that Rahul is absolutely right in his assumptions. A remake of Final Fantasy VII would be an inevitably poor decision on SE's part when they could make millions more on a new flagship release or a barrage of mediocre titles related to silly television shows and various compilations. Read the figures - Rahul is correct, Final Fantasy VII will not be re-released on this dimensional plane. The mirror world, however...

Yeah well you know, congrats on taking the extra 5 minutes to be a dick :P. Whats your point? That my English is bad? Sory, ill go cry now if you want

"Read the figures - Rahul is correct, Final Fantasy VII will not be re-released on this dimensional plane."

EGM tends to disagree. As do I. There is a huge interest in a remake. Yes, it will be different. If you don't like it, just play the old title. It's not like they're deleting it to make the new one as Star Wars did with the Special Editions(which actually are better). Graphics whore...? Not really. If there was a love story between jars of peanut butter, jelly, and mustard, it'd be a lot emotional if there were humans playing the roles. I feel the same way about games. The more I can relate to the characters(as many racism issues have been noted, blacks identify more with black lead roles, women with realistic women roles), the more I'd enjoy it. Yes, more realistic characters would draw more of an emotional response from me. FF8 and FF9 proved that. FF8 I felt they were real people, FF9 they were just characters from some storybook.

Also, you're wrong about one huge thing. You keep refering to it like only FF7 fans would play it. The biggest reason for this being released I think would be reaching a new audience. While you may be able to look through the graphics flaws(like the fact that they don't have hands, their arms are massively misproportioned, and their head makes up halve of their height), new gamers can't go back and play through it. I've met at least 5 people over the past year or so that never played FF7, and can't get into it when I tell them it's one of the greatest RPGs ever and to give it a chance. You know, if they did make it, you'd have to check it out. I think that's part of the reason why you don't want them to make a new one. You don't want to admit to being a graphics whore, or that you wet yourself when you saw the E3 Tech Demo for it. You know you craved it when you saw it, then realized you'd be far from a purist if you let there be any change to the old title. It's just a game you know, a way to make money for SE. The sooner you realize that, the sooner you'll accept the fact that before the PS4 is released, FF7 will be remade.

If you still don't believe remakes with better visuals sell, look at FF1 sales for NES compared to FF:Dawn of Souls. People ate that shit up. The same would go for FF7 with MASSIVELY updated visuals, voice acting, and a retooled story. Some of the most obvious things in the world to me during the FF7 adventure were as plain as day to me, but you'd be amazed how shrouded in mystery some stuff is to people. Like the whole Calamity from the Sky, I have to explain to people who have played through it three or four times, and they still don't get it. Same for Cloud and why Sephy can control him. Maybe it was lost in translation, I don't know.

This is a useless conversation with points made and arguments won by me and useless bickering presented as argument by everyone else. Stop trying. It's not going to happen; deal with it. One day you'll learn to think beyond your own desire for something and at that point you will be qualified to make predictions about business decisions; not before.

And aside from the business reasons, let a classic remain a classic. Not everything has to be remade to be 'better'. An artist's original is always better than newer interpretations. Take Evangelion, numerous films and so on.

Final Fantasy VII, it is my favourite game, irrelevant of what idiots think. I think I'd know what I like and don't like. Just because I don't want to see the game be remade doesn't mean I'm not a fan. It's BECAUSE I'm a fan that I don't want to see some crazy new version of the original.

Let the game rest, let it remain how it was. The game may have had good and bad things, but that's how it was. Society seems to demand new versions of things. Haven't you people seen South Park? They did an episode with George Lucas remaking Star Wars, and it was funny.

I don't know if there's really any point in discussing this here, since people don't seem to understand why things were good the way they were.

I'm still glad Advent Children is a film, and Dirge of Cerberus is not an RPG because it won't ruin the original FFVII experience. If they made a sequel as an RPG, it would look and feel too different. Why hasn't Square-Enix made a sequel in the same form? Because it would suck.

Even if Rahul becomes wrong about the business side and they do in fact release a remake, I don't care. It's not about that to me, it's about preserving the original. And as for new people coming to it, when Advent Children comes out, and then all of the other titles in the FFVII series, surely people will be smart enough to connect the games up.

Go and write some fanfiction or something people, or write to Square-Enix. Sitting around here with stupid arguments assuming you know how the gaming market works with no real experience or qualifications is futile.

LOL! TRS, you must be the stupidest human being alive. Your comments, while amusing, were the most unintelligble crap I've ever seen. Let's see here...

FF7 has the worst music ever? Are you fucking retarded? All FF's have outstanding musical scores.

No replayability? HAHAHAHAHA. It's one of the only games a consistantly replay, as do many others. Wow, I can't believe I even entertained a moronic comment like that.

Cait Sith. Ok, granted, an imbecilic character. But find me one FF game that doesn't have one, I dare you.

And the materia leveling is a chore? Awww, poor baby. You know, you have a big mouth for someone who's such a little bitch. The materia system was the BEST system in any Final Fantasy, bar none.

So yeah, in conclusion, in my opinion FF7 was a perfect game. Many others would disagree, and they are entitled to their opinions, but no one will disagree that it was a great game and was both hugely successful and influential.

Oh, and btw, Rahul, if you ever exit that cloud of egotistical nonsense and look at things for their facts rather than being an angry fanboy who wants to sound rebellious with his opinions against the norm. Stop wasting my time with your worthless retorts.

Also, excellent commentary, Christopher. They seem to get frustrated when we actually use L-O-G-I-C to contest their ignorant comments.

It's funny how the whole remake talk over the past 9 years of Final Fantasy VII and they come out of nowhere with movie for us and are coming out with a game following Vincent. It was people like you who said "face it you'll never get what you want, give it up" and Square shocked us and you people with Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children which I think is cooler then a remake. I am not a person for or against the remake but if they do remake it I'll pick it up. But it's people like you who say it will never happen then bam there it is. More then likely they'll remake due to the huge fanbase it has and I bet if the movie is very successful it will happen in no time without us even knowing. So saying a remake isn't worth their time or money think about the FF1-3 games being remade they were successful I don't see why the FFVII won't be successful. Only time will tell, thats just my two cents. I'll wait five years for a remake shit people have been waiting nine years what's another five? ;)

I'm not really sure that Rahul being an asshole, or "egotistical" as you put it. I probably am, but that's because it's in my nature to correct people who are pitifully wrong. Rahul's just reflecting the opinions of (though I very much doubt he is one) a Japanese business tycoon. When it's all broken down this entire debocle isn't about fandom or popularity, it's about how Mr. Kitase can make more yen. More income will arrive from a new video game than a refurbished old one. Take the sales of Enix's recent endeavors: Dragon Quest VIII and the re-releasing of Dragon Quest V, a very popular and loved title. Shall we compare the sales???

Dragon Quest V (Re-released): 1,611,974 units sold in 2004

Dragon Quest VIII (New Release): 3,327,167 units sold in 2004

Both titles were released around the same time and both - financially speaking - were goldmines for Square Enix. One can assume that similar results would follow from a re-release of our beloved FFVII when compared to the PS3 release of another juggernaut RPG of Square's in 2009-2010. Oh, and if for some reason you don't trust my numbers, here's the link...

http://www.the-magicbox.com/Chart-BestSell2004.shtml

>> edit: ... TRS, you're absolutely welcome.

Jenova - Actually I think the job system of FFV was better, not that I have really played it much. Final Fantasy VII did not allow much difference between the fighting styles of characters, since all could effectively possess any magic.

FFVII was not a perfect game, there is no such thing. There are flaws in every game, you yourself pointed out that you don't like Cait Sith that much. The game is already not perfect with that one statement.

Rahul as I said earlier points out the business reasons. I point out the reasons that make me think a remake is useless. If the game is so "perfect", why would you want to change it into something new? Let the classics lay to rest.

Oh, and in regard to any game being 'ZOMG TEH BEST GAME EVER', that's all opinion. Don't go flouting your opinion on a game and saying it's final.

"Final Fantasy VII did not allow much difference between the fighting styles of characters, since all could effectively possess any magic."

Actually, that fits into the game's story. Materia is just condensed life stream that contains knowledge shared from the lifestream. So the characters never learn or possess magic per se, they just hold an artifact that does. Eitherway, it turns out into a balancing beam since the stronger materia dwarfs your physical abilities.(the act of dwarfing, not multiples dwarves)

"Let the game rest, let it remain how it was. "
It will remain how it was... The original copy won't be destroyed, ya know. There will just be a new(drastically different) version of the game available for folks who are new to the series. Your old copy will still play fine, untouched by the original sculptor.

And for the Dragon Quest line... Was an updated game(like FF:Dawn of Souls), or was it remade from the ground up as FF7 on PS3 would be? Because slightly improved graphics are a lot different from rebuilding the game, and it can't really be compared.

A) Dragon Quest should never be mentioned in the same sentence as a game like FF7. That comparison lends absolutely no credibility to your claim. It's impossible to draw a correlation between the sales of one title to another. That and FF7 was a much better game.
B) Let it be known, I'm as much of a traditionalist as many of you are. If they were to remake FF7 and try to do anything at all in the ways of changing or "fixing" the plot, I'd be furious. Furthermore, while a graphical overhaul would certainly be nice, graphics are the very last thing on the list of criteria in judging a game's worth. Although that's not to say a little window dressing wouldn't hurt either. There are very few things I would approve of adjusting to FF7. Perhaps another weapon for fun, or making the end fight with Seph much more difficult. The point is, a remake would expose a new generation to this wonderful game. I can't tell you how many people I've spoken to who really want to play this game because they hear it is so good, but don't even own a first generation playstation. A remake would revitalize the franchise, expose the next generation of gamers to the game, and simultaneously please pre-existing fans across the world.
C) And lastly, perhaps I should revise my previous statement as the semantics whores are on full alert. While nothing can actually be "perfect", as the mere notion of the word is ambiguous in and of itself, FF7 was the closest game to perfect I have ever encountered.