Why Won’t Square Remake FFVII?

Once again, Square-Enix took to the stage of a media event and built up hopes for fans, only to sucker punch them. This time the event was the PlayStation Experience, and it was the same old, same old; they trotted out something Final Fantasy VII related, the crowd waited in hushed anticipation thinking, “Could it be? Could it finally be? Could it be the game we’ve wanted for years? A new HD re-make of FFVII?!” And, of course, it wasn’t. It was merely an announcement that the PC version was being made available on the PS4.

[Cyb3r]

Beacuase Square dont put in the effort anymore and a FF7 remake would be too much work

[Abash]

Yup, too much effort, too much money, too many expectations, so they feel the likelihood of it being the massive success it needs to be is too low and will do more harm than good for them

[Cyb3r]

I wish they never released a FF7 remake trailer they really shot themselves in the foot. If FF7 was remade I would buy a PS4 or Xbox One for the game alone

[theshonen8899]

Because a true FFVII remake would take as long to develop as FFXIII and FFV. I believe we all know how long those took to come out.

[hay]

Acutally what we would call the remake is in prototyping phase since Sixth generation, but it's not in the production funnel because Square in its current state(fanbase faith) cannot afford to screw this up, so they're re-building their talent and tool base before attempting that feat.
They are well aware they need to do it right, but so far they lack the proper output quality and seeking for a fan response(acceptance of current products) which will make them feel comfortable with giving it a go.

You're gonna get the remake by the end of this generation(cross next-gen/remaster possibly). It features similar sandboxing environment as in FFXV, some well known recreated vistas are already cry worthy(tears of joy of course), the aim is to make it look like Advent Children, but from how it looks so far the outcome will be much better.

[WhateverBlah]

@Kalkano:

I usually agree with u but not this time, random battles have a unique charm & surprise element u can't find anymore on games were enemies is visible to u, there is so much u can do with random battles from a dev stand point, like put in a specific area lot's of different monster some weak & some super strong & leave it either to luck which one the player is gonna fight or make it that the place you stand when the fight take place decide for the enemy, also in FFVII the environment during combat change depend where u stand at this specific time for example an area full of grass, or a sandy beach or a forest all those elements is something I love in FFVII, also there is some rare enemies that appear in specific places u must find to steal their techniques with enemy skill & many other elements like chocobo catching with chocobo lure materia all those things will not be the same w/o random battles, so don't say things like remove random battles I can't even think that they r gonna do something like that if they ever decice to make a remake, this is going to ruin the game!

[zero_gamer]

They know how protective their fans are over the game. If they screw up with the remake, it will cost Square Enix a lot more reputation with their fans. FFXIII's reception was enough for them. There are plenty of people that like FFXIII but they aren't vocal about it.

[Adrian_v01]

And it wouldn't be possible.

[Godmars290]

They overestimated their abilities in what they wanted achieve with a remake. Are too prideful to admit such.

[styferion]

Because it's their trump card, it'd need either other FF being a new trump card or their company on the verge of collapsing before they truly make it.

[rawshack]

two things 1 there lazy 2 judging from there past games it will take for ever like ff15 did

[gangsta_red]

They can't steal he thunder away from the upcoming FF 15.

I'm sure when Square is in a huge financial hole and down on their luck, then we will see a re-make, re-mastered, HD FF7.

[dadz]

I'm sure FF7 remake has been discussed internally by Square but they know they can't afford to spend anymore resources and take time away from the production of XV and KH3 or whatever else they have in the pipeline.

[Snookies12]

That's the problem... They wouldn't have the resources/time to remake Final Fantasy VII if they found themselves in a hole... Yet, at the same time they wouldn't want to take the risk of trying to do it when they're well off. There's just no middle ground for a chance at the remake.

If it was a company that actually cared about their fans and what they want. We would see it, but that's not the type of company we're dealing with anymore, sadly.

[DarkZane]

Maybe they've been working on it already but want to release FF15 first. The FF7 Port they're releasing might also be to test the water.

[Pozzle]

Do they really need to test the water though? It's not like this is some obscure RPG that could potentially lose them money if remade. The game is massively popular and has been considered a fan-favorite for fifteen years now.

[Bhuahahaha]

or maybe they're thinking of releasing ff7-2

[Unarmed_Civilian]

If they dont do atleast a remaster for 20th anniversary, then its never gonna happen.
The only hope is if Sony helps to co-develop, it would be amazing if it gets announced at e3 or tgs in 2016.

[STK026]

It's happening, sooner rather than later. They've already remade or at least remastered the previous ones (FF1 all the way to 6, although the latter was met with some justified criticism). They also remastered FFX and FFX-2. All they have left are the PSOne's or FFXII. I would also guess they consider Tactics to have already been remastered with the War of the lions edition.

And God knows that SE wants the Final Fantasy money, so I'd say the Final Fantasy 7 remake people want will come at some point, and they're really running out of options.

[Nesflix]

What's crazy is that I've thought about this over and over. I've always wanted FF7 remade. Always. Until recently. I've realized how great that game and let's face it guys, Square Enix can't make games like FF7 anymore. Do we want them to ruin a perfect classic with a trashy remake? Square Enix hasn't made a great game in a very long time. I think our hopes for a future remake should be put to rest.

[Snookies12]

That's the thing... They don't have to do anything. They just have to redo the visuals and music for the most part. They can't mess it up. I don't mind them adding in new materia, dungeons, monsters, etc. That won't change the already amazing game at the core.

[Nesflix]

I completely agree with you but it's easier said than done. There will be people that will complain about the way certain scenes are animated, the new remixes of original songs that will obviously be made for the game, the voice acting. If they kept everything the same and the only thing they upgrade are graphics and audio, people WILL complain. It's just the way it is. Also, I don't think Square Enix thinks that simple. Remember who we're talking about ... it's Square Enix.

[Ryuk_2007]

Development cost would be in the heavens if they tried to remake this. They started working on FF14 8 years ago and it still doesn't have a release date.
Imagine how long it'll take to remake this.

[Inception]

Why...hmmm let see. Oh i know! Because they're...*gasp* dumb?

[zero_gamer]

They're afraid to. If it ended up sucking, you can guess what would happen.

[Inception]

They just lazy. That's all.

But maybe you right. The other reason why they didn't remake FF VII because they respect FF VII fans and especially Sakaguchi. Cmiiw i read some interview with Sakaguchi about FF VII story. Back in 1996/97 when he wrote FF VII story, Sakaguchi lost his father / mother and that a bit inspired him with one of the saddest moment in gaming history: Aerith's death.

I can understand if that the reason why SE didn't remake FF VII, because they afraid it will end up crap and make FF VII fans and Sakaguchi angry.

But personally i'm hopeless with FF VII remake. Maybe it's time to let it go and just play the latest FF...

[Rmx212]

There using ff7 as the face for there marketing, for the face but it's have very little effect after PSX.

[overrated44]

Because remaking FF7 makes WAY too much sense for a company that's being run in to the ground so well.

[Der_Kommandant]

Because they're so lazy, they prefer a quick crash grab.

[Nesflix]

It isn't a cash grab if their games barely sell. It's almost unusual and a little annoying that they would create two sequels to FF13, don't you think? A game that was mostly hated gets two sequels that didn't sell so well? It makes no sense. I don't think laziness is actually the reason. I think Square Enix is completely aware that they just can't make great games like they used to and they don't want to hang themselves by trying to recreate one of the best games ever made and ultimately failing in the end. That's a HARD fail to come back from.

[Donnywho]

"Are we there yet?"
"No."
"Are we there yet?"
"No."
"Are we there yet?"
"No."
"Are we there yet?"
"No."
"Are we there yet?"
"No."
"Are we there yet?"
"No."

[Sy_Wolf]

It would cost a ton of money and be extraordinarily hard to do because of how big the world is. How is that confusing?

[Snookies12]

They could keep the world relatively the same size. Scale it a little bigger to fit the bigger Cloud model on the world map, make the water look pretty and redo the textures for the land/towns. I could see them adequately redoing all the textures and backgrounds within a year or two if they didn't try to change the viewpoints and all that in every town/dungeon. That's 75% of the work right there. Have the remastered audio being done while they work on that, and everything would be peachy. Unless they wanted to do voice over work. That might push the production to about 3 years. If they really took their time with everything, 4 years at the most. They're honestly just scared of doing it. They don't want to be blamed for screwing something up. Even though they'd really have to go out of their way to screw it up...

[juniorpop]

They should focus on finishing all the new projects announced such as Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts III first before anything else..remakes are not welcomed when there are so much exciting new stuffs on the horizon

[WhateverBlah]

There is various reasons why they don't do it here some that I can think my self right now:

1.SE afraid they won't be able to satisfy the fans & this would be catastrophic for them as they can't afford to get any more negative criticism as they probably have more haters than fans for the past many years now if they did something that will piss the entire FFVII fanbase this would be literally GAME OVER for them no brain people would never buy a game from them ever.

2.SE afraid to start working on a project of this magnitude, just the thought to create the massive world of FFVII with FFXV quality graphics makes them all to shit their pants, there is no one in there brave & passionate enough to lead a project so demanding because this company is not the company we all loved back in the 90's, it's not Squaresoft, there is no vision anymore & too much laziness, SE mindset after Mr Sakaguchi left is just how they can make some fast & easy cash grabs here & there, fast money w/o effort & that's the reason they start care more for iOS than consoles, they keep on making ports & new games for smartphones no need to say anything else.

3.They simply don't have the budget for something this huge & expensive but even if that's true that's no excuse because I'm sure SONY would finance an FFVII remake anytime even the whole project in a heartbeat it's their most popular game after all it was not called "the game that sold the PlayStation" for no reason, this game sold millions of consoles & it's till to this moment their most renown game & they know very well that an FFVII remake on PS4 would lead to millions of people buy a console just to play this game & this game alone that's more than enough reason for them.

That's the first 3 reasons that come to my mind when I think why they don't want to do/haven't done yet an FFVII remake, & all those reasons lead to the same conclusion that SE afraid they are not capable enough to do it successfully & they are too lazy anyway to even try, that's it more or less.

[Kenshin_BATT0USAI]

Been thinking about this for awhile and I think I finally know why.

If we're talking like advent children quality;

1. they would have to rebuild the game from the ground up.

2. The current console hardware is in no position to manage that sort of burden just yet. Maybe next gen? I know pcs are capable but square clearly doesn't care for that market.

[hkgamer]

square wont make ffvii remake so that blogsites like these can keep writing the same articles over and over again about ffvii remake.