Nomura: FFVII remake not happening 'for the time being'

by Ben Gilbert on Jan 24th 2010 1:00PM

Look, Cloud Strife fans, we feel your pain. We do! Honestly. We're just not exactly shocked to see Square Enix's Tetsuya Nomura stating that the possibility of a Final Fantasy VII remake being created as a no go, at least "for the time being." In a recent issue of Famitsu (translated via Andriasang) -- the Cloud Strife-themed part of a multiweek look at game characters -- the character's creator admitted that he is quite aware "fans are looking forward to an oft-rumored remake of FFVII." Unfortunately, he also noted "I don't believe this will happen for the time being."

In a seemingly futile effort to assuage the damage done by that statement, he added, "It's possible that he will appear in other titles as a guest character." You mean like Dissidia: Final Fantasy, Mr. Nomura? Yeah, we're just as worried as you are, folks.

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Tags: cloud-strife, ffvii, final-fantasy, final-fantasy-vii, square-enix, tetsuya-nomura

Reader Comments (131)

No.

WANT NOW.

Lame. But oh well, FF-XIII, FF-XIII Versus, and FF-XIV are all on the way at least. Maybe they'll be good.

An FF-VII remake would be epic.

They should rather make a new Chrono Game!

I have an MBA and truthfully state that Nomura is a marketing-moron.. That's money in the bank they're turning down. Business 101: satisfy the needs of the customer. Give 'em what they want! Potential customers (in droves) are saying I have some money I want to give you squeenix. All I ask is that you give me FF7-HD. The development costs would be so low since it would be a remake...Makes NO sense why they refuse.

chilly, if what you say is true, then you should know about supply and demand. reduce supply (or in this case, don't have any), and demand increases. i guess they don't think there's enough demand yet.

Sly: (BTW, I'm playing Sly 3 tonight :)

Supply & Demand in relation to the original FF7 versus FF7-HD would only apply to similar products (should I buy nike or adidas?) When you have a differentiated product, one shouldn't compete with the other.

I can't imagine too many people saying "I'm not sure if I should buy the original for the system 2 generations back or the new one?"

"The development costs would be so low since it would be a remake"

?

Does anyone else feel a bit disturbed when chilly told sly that he's playing sly tonight?

Morisato:
Nice. Now get your mind out of the gutter.

Rich:
I'm not in the video game industry so my terminology may be way off, but you should get the general idea. Character models, storyline, battle system, etc. has all been created already. Updating visuals is really all that's needed. Look at the PS3 tech demo they had of FF7-HD. Consumers went nuts wanting it and it was exactly the same as the original (plus some updated graphics).

How could anyone who says "reduce supply, and demand increases" be taken seriously? You're:
1) Missing the whole point of supply and demand.
2) Pulling entire concepts out of your ass.

Supply and Demand are used to determine the equilibrium price, and have little effect on each other. It basically means that lots of people would be willing to supply FF7-HD if they could sell it for $500, but demand would be low as only crazy fanboys would buy it. Likewise, everyone would buy it if it was $0.10 (like that golf game on Steam was once), but no-one would be crazy enough to supply it at that price. Thus, an equilibrium is found at about $50. Got it now?

@Chilly
The development costs wouldn't really be lower. They can't exactly reuse the same character models, textures, etc. for the PS3. And how exactly do you gauge how high demand is for a FFVII remake? I don't think people in internet forums are very good examples for how high demand is.

I think the FF7 remake will happen, but there is quite a bit of FF7 related products that were out: Crisis Core, Dirge of Cerebus & Advent Children. Two out of the three were wildly trashed for being awful (Hint: the ones that aren't Advent Children) and many gamers online avoided them. Making the original FF7 in HD with PS3 visuals would be amazing, but if they are going to do that, they just as well make FF8 & FF9 in HD as well and release it as a "Final Fantasy Playstation 1 Collection." Yeah, I wanna see Rinoa in HD too....mroww!

While we're at it, I'm still waiting on Square Enix to re-do FF6 for DS & PSP.

@ Quattro:

I think it's safe to say that as much as the original FF7 and FF8 are selling on the PSN, the remake will make plenty of money. I definitely feel that the million+ who purchased FF7 are not tied to these message boards, so there's tons of people out there who want this game.

I'm not sure what companies like Square and Nintendo are thinking. Those two companies have so many franchises that users want, yet they refuse. Chrono, FF7, Donkey Kong, etc. I think it's time for some turnover at the top...

A simple "maybe" would have got them a million-plus pre-orders on the spot. I don't understand these guys sometimes.

Thank God

I'm with you. I really can't get my head around why people would want a new version. People should watch Free Hat - it applies to games for all the same reasons as it does to films.

It's not a no! Kind of like what that girl told me...

Squeenix guy #1: Sir, research shows we could make an absolute buttload of money off of a FFVII remake. The project would be relatively low cost as the story and combat system are already made, and we know that millions of desperate fanboys would eat it up. Make it a multiplatform release and we could have a new bestseller on our hands. Should we go ahead and ma-

Squeenix guy in a suit: NO! Proceed to make generic average RPG that looks a lot like FF but has a different name and wont sell 1/10th of the copies #23. I'll be damned if this company is getting rich on my watch.

Random squeenix guy #3: *Facepalm*

I feel the need to emphasize that knowing full well what (the majority of?) your fans want from you, and would buy from you, having that project be lower cost than a new creative work, and still issuing a statement "we aren't giving you that" goes against pretty much every rule of business I ever learned in college. Someone needs to slap this guy into reality.

If all businesses said "Screw innovation. Let's just stay with what everyone wants: A remake of the same game for the next 10 years", then the video game market would be so much less inviting than how it is now.

If they wanted to bring FF VII back in the limelight with XIII-esque graphics, I'd be all for it. But if it's going to deter projects like Kingdom Hearts 3, Final Fantasy XIV [and XV for the non-MMO fans] and a possibly-new franchise from Square Enix, then I'd be less enthusiastic to jump on board.

There's a reason why Mario was in space recently and not in World 1-1 with NSMB graphics. There's a reason why Link was in Hyrule searching for three pieces of a helmet for his impish little friend and not in Hyrule searching for 3 crystals to unlock the door to the Sacred Realm. There's a reason we're following Lightning around her world and not Cloud in his.

It's all about creating something new to enjoy. And while I'd love a new FF VII, a new Super Mario RPG, a new Ocarina of Time, and so many revitalized classics, I'd much rather have brand new ideas come up instead.

And trust me, I'd eat a new Super Mario RPG up faster than you could say "Eat this Yoshi cookie right now."

Point. But if all business's said "we hate money" then there wouldnt be any more businesses.

Which is practically what Squeenix just did.

Falcon, you make a great point, but there's nothing stopping them from making both innovative new games AND a remake of FFVII. Which would solve all our problems and might bring about world peace.

Maybe they just don't understand the amount of fanboyism behind FF7, I say we get cosplayers of Cloud, Barret, and Tifa to storm the Squeenix head quarters by taking the stairs instead of the elevator....y'know, because it's sneaky.

I look at this two ways...One, I'm not overly keen for them to remake FFVII, I mean you can still play it today if you want to, and I still do. I'd rather them release new games.

However, if they did release a FFVII remake I have not a doubt in my mind that I would buy it. So in essence, I don't really care if they do remake it or not, but if they did I would be the first in line to pick it up.

Except they arent pushing the series forward, they pushed the series back to the stone age with FF13 making it so ridiculously linear.

One of the reasons why people want remakes of the old games is because new FF games keep getting worse and worse.

Plus all of the old FF remakes that have made their way to the gameboy/DS shows that Squeenix is perfectly willing to remake old FF games.

The real question here is: Why not FF VII? Some legal reason? Technology not where they want it to be at? Some bigger plan that they have for it?

It makes one wonder.

Remakes are not really a bad thing, if done right.
There are a lot of new generation gamers that have never had the opportunity to play some of the classic games or things that helped to shape the countless clones and spinoffs.
The new SMB is a perfect example of that, i doubt many of the younger generations would ever play smb 1 or 3 but the new one captures the core elements for them.

That said id rather see a proper remake of the original chrono trigger!

@ squee

Stalking isn't dating.

In many respects, we're all stalking FFVII. I think it's time to let the relationship go. It was solid for the late 90s. But, you know...we're just looking desperate now.

Especially when sending love notes strapped to rocks while hiding behind bushes.

Thank goodness, I can't see a remake doing anything but hurting the series even worse.

FF7 is tossed around nearly as bad as Sonic.

use brings about wear tear and rust and thats a real waste.

I really don't see how a remake can hurt things

(Watches Land of the Lost, King Kong, Godzilla)

....................nevermind.............

I still think a FF7 remake would be kick ass though.

Please, people. Look at what today's Square-Enix has pumped out in recent years.

Do you REALLY want THIS company to remake FF7?

I think that's a reason why should rather than should not.

That's a really good point. Square Enix != Squaresoft.

Sequel? Hell no. They already partially ruined the FF7 storyline for me with Advent Children (by making it clear that Jenova was far less controlling of Sephiroth than originally believed. Turns out Sephiroth was doing a lot of the shit himself).

But a remake. I could handle. If they just stuck with upgrading the graphics - like the tech demo - it will be amazing.

@hf1986

It was always obvious to me that Sephiroth was in control, not Jenova. The fact that Jenova was his mother and that he was "created", not born, was the catalyst for Sephiroth's madness and subsequent actions; the Jenova cells with which he'd been infused just made him that much more powerful. I think Advent Children keeps with the original storyline rather well, even if it's really over the top.

@ Hiroken

Precisely, that's how they ruined it. They went with the "obvious" storyline which offered absolutely no intrigue whatsoever, lol. They essentially devalued Jenova's contribution to the whole crisis and made Sephiroth a one-man "bad-guy". No tragic heroes, no twist, nothing.

I guess it was a bit presumptive to ever consider THIS storyline though:
http: //www. ff7citadel .com /efiction /viewstory.php?sid=87

But it would have been amazing ...

Advent Children had a story?

lol, ignore that link. That was reiterating the obvious storyline. FF7 Citadel has the alternate storyline elsewhere.

FF3 and FF4 got some pretty damn good remakes.

If they can't make a real cyberpunk game - I'd much rather see a remake of FFVII. All FF games have either too little sci-fi feeling, or are too beautiful and shiny.

I want rust, smoke and guns.

A remake of Shadowrun wouldn't hurt either!

I absolutely agree. They're turning the franchise into a soap opera where every character knows every character and no one ever really dies. It cheapens the original.

Am I one of the only people on earth who didn't enjoy that game in the first place?

When he said "It's possible that he will appear in other titles as a guest character" I was thinking more on the lines of Kingdom Hearts 3.

Too bad Nomura ALSO said that Kingdom Hearts 3 isn't in the near future, either.

He said that we'll be seeing more mobile gaming spin-offs before they even CONSIDER starting development on Kingdom Hearts 3.

Nomura and Wada are giving me a damn headache lately.

And don't forget there isn't any Half Life 3, either.

Isn't this year great?

Valve/Squeenix to make Half-Life 3, coming 2320!

Begging for a remake makes me think the fans have decided that the series has peaked. In all honesty, SquareEnix has lost so many of it's original "dream team" that it seems unlikely that another true masterpiece is gonna happen.

Don't listen to me. I just like to expect the worst that way I'm pleasantly surprised when good things happen.

Guess they are saving this one for when they really need the money.

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Reader Comments (131)

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