Final Fantasy VII Remake is unlikely to see a release in 2016, Square Enix’s Yoshinori Kitase has suggested in a recent interview with Famitsu magazine.
“I believe that this year will still be a year of preparations for Final Fantasy VII Remake,” said Kitase-san. “I’d like to create a new kind of value for the hardware that is the PlayStation 4 for our next announcement.”
While not explicitly stating that the hotly anticipated PlayStation 4 title won’t debut in 2016, it seems unlikely given the game will see the light of day this year given Kitase’s choice of words and the fact Square Enix already a major release due out in the shape of Final Fantasy XV, also on PS4 and Xbox One.
Final Fantasy VII Remake was announced after years of rumors during Sony’s E3 2015 press conference, where it was confirmed the title will be playable first on PS4. Presumably, this means an Xbox One and PC release is also in the pipeline, although nothing official has been confirmed by Square Enix as of yet. It later emerged that the project will be broken down into a multi-part series, as the team felt that it would be impossible to deliver the same experience had the remake been conceived as a single release.
Sony debuted the first gameplay footage of Final Fantasy VII Remake during its PlayStation Experience 2015 press event, which depicted a more action-oriented approach to combat. The remake will feature full voice acting in comparison to the text-based dialogue seen in the original 1997 release, and is set to include new areas to explore, allowing gamers to see more of Midgar. The game is powered by the Unreal Engine 4 and is aiming to replicate character visuals on par with those of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children thanks to the added power of PS4.
Final Fantasy VII Remake has yet to attract a release date, although given the original celebrates its 20th anniversary next year, it wouldn’t be hard to imagine Square Enix starting to roll things out around that time. Oh, and there’s good news if you’re a fan of Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie: the remake will shed more light on these characters.