From “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate” to Fallout 76, and even Kingdom Hearts 3, E3 2018 showed us a lot of amazing games to look forward to. However, there was one game that was noticeably absent from the event – the Final Fantasy VII remake. There was a lot of speculation that we would get at least some presentation or update from the Square Enix booth, but sadly there was no official announcements at all. Thanks to an interview from IGN, we do have a few bits of info that may give fans some assurance that the project is indeed moving forward.
IGN managed to squeeze in an interview with Square Enix’s Tetsuya Nomura, the man in charge of the development of both Final Fantasy VII Remake and Kingdom Hearts 3. When asked about the status of the project, Nomura responded saying he was working on the two games simultaneously. From their discussion, it seems like he’s going back and forth between the two teams making sure the games are moving forward according to schedule. Speaking of schedules, Nomura stated that FF7 is no longer in the “early concept stage” and has instead moved into the actual “development stage.”
What’s interesting to note about this comment is that aside from the first trailer (above) which was released back in June 2015, we also got another trailer that came out 5 months later in December 2015 that showed what appeared to be actual gameplay footage. Check it out below.
Call me crazy, but I assumed given the details that appear in this video, that the game was already in development back in 2015. I mean, you see real combat and gameplay there! In February of this year, we also received news that Cloud’s character design would be modified from what was shown in these trailers. I seriously down they would restart the whole game from scratch just to modify Cloud’s character model. Though through this lens, one could see why Nomura would say they are now officialy in the “development” stage.
In short, Square Enix has been extremely secretive any details regarding Final Fantasy VII Remake. While the news direct from Nomura that the game is “actually in development” now is definitely great to hear, it doesn’t really give us any hints as to when we can expect its release. At this point, I realize that dates are a super luxury and I’d be happy with just seeing any kind of content update. Hopefully we don’t all have to wait until E3 2019 for some more FF7 news.
Featured Image Credits: Square Enix
