In an interview with GameRevolution, Hajime Tabata, the game director of Final Fantasy XV, explained that he would reject the proposal to deal with Final Fantasy VII Remake but would not disown the possibility of making a Final Fantasy VII-2.
Tabata played a prominent role in the development of Crisis Core, the prequel of the seventh chapter released for PSP.
“Final Fantasy VII It’s such a special numbered game that I don’t think I can remake that one. There’s so many fans out there, if I were asked to satisfy all those fans, I don’t think that’s something I could do, 100%. If [Square Enix] asked me to make a new Final Fantasy and take it in a new direction, I’d be happy to accept that one, but if they asked me to remake Final Fantasy VII — to release as if it were a modern game, just released today — no, I don’t think that’s something I can do. I think the only people who could do that are Mr. (Yoshinori) Kitase and Mr. (Tetsuya) Nomura.”
Asked about the opportunity to deal with another title set in that universe, Tabata finally revealed his potential interest.
“Now, if they asked me to do Final Fantasy VII-2, that might be different,” was the answer of the game director before he burst into a loud laugh when he was told that his next project was still wrapped up in the mystery.
What about the seventh chapter in the Tabata-san future, once archived Final Fantasy XV? According to Nomura, we will soon have some information on the state of the work of his projects, although it was not clear what the two titles are at this time at the center of his thoughts.
A recent rumor had even suggested that although he was leaving at a time after Kingdom Hearts III, Final Fantasy VII Remake was at a later stage, probably facilitated by his episodic nature.
In any case, Kingdom Hearts III is officially scheduled for 2018, and we hope to find out more about both projects for that time window.
