Square Enix’s developers are setting expectations on the status of part 3 of the Final Fantasy VII remake.
Final Fantasy VII is one of the best-selling and critically acclaimed games on the original PlayStation. Over 20 years later, Square-Enix announced they would be making a AAA remake of the RPG on modern consoles. It turned out that the remake was to be released as three games, and it would diverge on an alternate timeline or timelines of the events in the first title.
Final Fantasy VII Remake, Part 1 of the remake, released on 2020 for the PlayStation 4. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, which will be Part 2, is set to be released exclusively for the PlayStation 5 this coming Leap Day, on February 29, 2024. It took a four year gap and a new console generation for us to get to the next title, and Square Enix seems to be implying we’re waiting for about as long for Part 3.
As reported by GamesRadar, director Naoki Hamaguchi shared an update on the status of the 3rd game. He said:
“Of course, I cannot tell you what stage we are at, but we have already made progress on the script and we are thinking about certain developments.
When we got to the end of the development for Remake, we started talking about a sequel with [writer Kazushige Nojima] and I think we can say that we are in the same situation today.”
So based on Hamaguchi’s statement, they are at least on the writing stage. This does not rule out that Square Enix is also at the pre-production stage, working on pre-visualization, looking up parts of the original Final Fantasy VII, and potentially the game’s spinoffs, for reference, and making other related preparations.
Square Enix really sought to meet fans’ sky high expectations with this remake series, so we have seen the greatest production values possible in this console generation. It’s to the point where the games are straining the limits of PlayStation 5 storage. However, alongside that are the best graphics, sound, and overall presentation that Square Enix can make with the resources that they have.
We don’t know how big Square Enix’s ambitions are for part 3, but if Square Enix sticks to the four year timeframe that took them to make Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, there is a very real chance that the PlayStation 6 is released, or at least gets announced, by the time it this game gets released. We may even be looking at some kind of Ultimate Edition for the whole Final Fantasy VII trilogy on PlayStation 6 in the future.
At least for now, we have Final Fantasy VII Rebirth to reckon with its own scale and ambition on this generation.