Final Fantasy VII Remake Development Shakeup Underway Amid Quality Concerns

Since unveiling the project at E3 2015, Square Enix has remained very vague about the development of Final Fantasy VII Remake. Who, exactly, is working on the project? How far along is its production? During their recent year-end financial briefing, Square Enix would only say Final Fantasy VII Remake was coming sometime within the “next three years or so.” That’s not terribly encouraging!

Well, it seems there may be a reason Square Enix has been so evasive about Final Fantasy VII – apparently, development isn’t going as smoothly as the company would like. Square Enix has avoided publicizing this, but a large portion of the development of Final Fantasy VII Remake is being handled by CyberConnect2, a company that usually works on Naruto and .hack licensed games. Or, at least that used to be the case.

During a recent Japanese Final Fantasy stream, Square Enix designer Naoki Hamaguchi let slip that CyberConnect2 has been canned amid quality concerns:

“I’ve taken over the development side of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake. Up until now, development has progressed by receiving external collaboration, but from here on out, with production and quality in mind, we’re shifting to our in-house organization. This company decision was made with quality control in mind as well as want to keep the schedule stable.”

Well, Square Enix suddenly staffing up makes more sense now. Why’d CyberConnect2 get the boot? According to an earlier interview, Final Fantasy VII Remake producer Tetsuya Nomura felt the cinematics and cutscenes they were producing weren’t up to Square Enix standards. Of course, that’s what he cared most about.

Will this development shakeup mean we won’t be waiting three years for Final Fantasy VII Remake? Maybe, maybe not, but at least the final product should be of higher quality. I’m willing to wait for Square Enix to do this this thing right.

You can check out WWG’s latest Final Fantasy VII Remake coverage, right here.

[via Kotaku]