Without a doubt, one of the most anticipated games coming up is Square Enix’s Final Fantasy 7 Remake. The original game came at exactly the right time, when gaming hit the mainstream in a big way, making many nostalgic for the Japanese RPG at a time when Japanese games and companies are in the midst of a big come back. And according to the CEO of Square Enix, that actually makes it harder than making an original game.
Considering that FF7R is going to come out across multiple games, it most likely means we won’t see a new, original Final Fantasy for a good while. Yosuke Matsuda, in an interview with GamesBeat, also thinks that poses a big challenge, in that it means it puts pressure for a remake to be that much more than the original, but also puts you in a spot where you can’t simply chase nostalgia, especially when you want to attract modern audiences who aren’t as familiar with the original. In his mind, it creates a balancing act that can be perilous.
“I’d say that what we’ve learned is that making remakes can be very challenging,” said Matsuda. “It’s as difficult or even more so than making an original title, a new title, in a different sense. What I mean is that when you’re making a remake, you can’t just chase nostalgia. That’s not going to work out. You have to make it the latest game, a game that’s current.
“In making the Final Fantasy 7 Remake, we have to think about the fans of the original, who know Final Fantasy 7, but at the same time we want to expand beyond that to people who may not have had any experience with Final Fantasy 7, or even Final Fantasy altogether. I don’t believe we can just be thinking about the fans of the past game when making this. Of course we value how much support they’ve given us, but at the same time we’d like to see new customers play this as well. We need to make a game that will satisfy both of those customer bases. That’s why I say it’s so challenging.”
Final Fantasy 7 Remake releases exclusively on PlayStation 4 on March 3, 2020.
