Final Fantasy 7 director responds to demand for FF6 remake

Final Fantasy VII director Yoshinori Kitase has addressed the demand for a 3D FF6 remake, but the project is likely too big to ever come to fruition.

Square Enix originally announced Final Fantasy VII Remake at E3 2015 nearly a decade ago. We’re still waiting on the release of its sequel, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, and another untitled game that will cap off the trilogy.

This means that Square Enix will have spent over ten years remaking Final Fantasy VII, which is one of the company’s biggest games of all time. That’s not including any other potential sequels that could be released after the trilogy has ended.

But what about other Final Fantasy remakes? A Final Fantasy IX remake has been rumored since the Nvidia leak, but there are other titles that require a fresh 3D coat of paint more than Zidane and his gang of thieves, such as the beloved FF6, which has only received 2D remakes to date.

Final Fantasy 6 is much harder to remake than FF7

Final Fantasy VI & VII director Yoshinori Kitase is currently promoting Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, where he’s serving as a producer. In a recent interview with Julien Chieze on YouTube (translated by aitaikimochi on Twitter/X), he discussed the difficulties of remaking Final Fantasy VI in the same as its successor.

Kitase Yoshinori mentions in a recent interview with French video game YouTuber Julien Chièze that if the FF7 Remake team were to also remake FF6, it would probably take twice the time as the volume and amount of characters is way more than FF7. Here's his direct translation:… pic.twitter.com/mncAMXYeC2

— ☆オードリーAudrey☆ (@aitaikimochi) January 29, 2024

According to Kitase, a Final Fantasy VI remake in the style of Final Fantasy VII Remake would likely require double the development time, due to the size of the case (as it has way more playable characters), and the sheer scope of its world & plot.

It would be a massive endeavor to remake Final Fantasy VI and Kitase doesn’t believe it can be done right now, despite demand from both the fans and people within Square Enix, who want to see Terra and the rest of the Final Fantasy VI cast reborn on modern hardware.

While Final Fantasy VI is considered one of the best RPGs on the Super Nintendo (facing stiff competition from the likes of Chrono Trigger and EarthBound), it never received the commercial success of the PlayStation-era Final Fantasy games.

Square Enix might be willing to invest a lot of resources in remaking the adventures of the iconic Cloud Strife, but Final Fantasy VI doesn’t have the same pull with the audience. As such, we’re unlikely to see a remake of Final Fantasy VI on the same scale as Final Fantasy VII Remake.