Summary
- Director Naoki Hamaguchi is excited about working with the same team for a decade, hoping to utilize their expertise in future projects.
- The Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy's third part is in development with a mapped out plot, set to feature emphasis on the iconic Highwind airship.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth director Naoki Hamaguchi has stated how excited he is about working with the same team for the past decade, and hopes to put their expertise to good use after the remake's third part. Naoki Hamaguchi is a long-time employee who has been working with Square Enix since 2006, his most recent contribution being Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, serving as its director. He was also one of the core members of the team for the first part of Final Fantasy 7 Remake, being its co-director and responsible for the programming and game design. As such, he's been with the FF7 remake since the beginning.
The Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy is approaching its end. While the first part of the Final Fantasy 7 remake was announced in 2015, it had a very troubled development and didn't see its release until 2020. The development of the second part was just as long, expanding upon the world to a much larger and grander scale than the first part, which was finally released in February 2024, with plenty of praise being given to it. While there's no release window for the upcoming third part, it is currently in active development, and Rebirth director Hamaguchi is excited about where they'll go after it.
Speaking with GamesRadar, Hamaguchi stresses the importance of how he was able to work with the same team for the past decade and hopes they can bring that knowledge to a new project following the Final Fantasy 7 remake's third part. He notes he doesn't know whether this next project could be the next numbered Final Fantasy game or a completely new project, but he's incredibly excited about what they could do. Hamaguchi expressed great appreciation for being able to work on the Final Fantasy 7 remakes with the same team for the past ten years, saying how valuable it is to retain legacy talent.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Director Comments on Importance of Legacy Talent during Development
Speaking on the amount of gaming studio closures and acquisitions from companies like Sony and Microsoft, Hamaguchi notes the difficulties of trying to make technically demanding games without having an experience base to support new teams, especially large-scale games. As such, he suggests that the acquisitions are to get people who have a certain amount of experience to help prop up the more inexperienced members of the industry during development.
While Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3's plot has already been mapped out, the game is still a ways off from being released. Both producer Yoshinori Kitase and director Hamaguchi confirmed that the third game's plot has been locked in, marking the completion of its pre-production phase. The iconic Highwind airship will also have a lot of emphasis in the third part as well, providing players with the freedom to fly around the map.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 92 /100 Critics Rec: 97%
- Released
- February 29, 2024
- ESRB
- T For Teen Due To Blood, Language, Mild Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Square Enix
- Publisher(s)
- Square Enix
WHERE TO PLAY
Discover a vibrant and vast world in this standalone entry in the Final Fantasy VII remake project. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is the second entry in the Final Fantasy VII remake project, which retells the story of the genre-redefining RPG across three distinct games. Iconic heroes Cloud, Barret, Tifa, Aerith and Red XIII have escaped from the dystopian city Midgar and are now in pursuit of Sephiroth, the vengeful swordsman from Cloud’s past who was thought to be dead. This new adventure can be enjoyed by all players, even those who have yet to play Final Fantasy VII Remake or the PlayStation original. Expect a new standard of cinematic storytelling, fast-paced combat and rich exploration across a vast world.
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 4
- Franchise
- Final Fantasy
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, PC
- Genre(s)
- RPG
- How Long To Beat
- 40 Hours
- PS Plus Availability
- N/A
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
