Given how severe video game delays can get,Final Fantasy 7 Remakehas had it pretty good, having only beendelayed a month from its initial release date. That being said, there are concerns that this delay could nevertheless have an adverse effect on subsequent entries in the episodic retelling of the classic JRPG.
It’s been known for a while thatFinal Fantasy 7 Remakewould only cover the first part of the PS1 original,expanding its Midgar section into a full gamewith reworked combat and a more in-depth narrative. While Square hasn’t divulged much of its plans for Part 2 and beyond, it had previously suggested that the release schedule for any sequels will be dependent on the remake’s ability to meet its original March 3 release date. Now that it’s missed that, fans are worried about the potential domino effect that could result in further delays down the line.
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According to Square Enix, however, this won’t be the case. During a financial results briefing this month, company president Yosuke Matsuda addressed the matter directly. When asked if thedelay would affect the ETA forFinal Fantasy 7Part 2, he simply said, “No, it will not.”
It’s understandable that people would have been concerned, though. By all accounts, it sounds like each of the sequels toFinal Fantasy 7 Remakewill be just as large as the first game, and a production of such a large scale could easily run into delay-inducing problems. But as producer Yoshinori Kitase pointed out last year, it’s likely thatFF7 Remake’s sequels won’t take as long to develop, since they will be utilizing most of the assets and game systems that Square had to make from scratch for the first game.
“While the development team finish the first game in the project, we are continuing to plan and outline the overall volume of content for the second,” he said at E3 2019. “Due to the work already done on the first game we anticipate development of the second game to be more efficient.”
Of course, it’s always possible that even a more streamlined develop could run into trouble, especially with how much Square isadding new content toFinal Fantasy 7 Remake, but now that the hard work of laying a foundation for this reimagining ofFF7seems to be largely complete, it should indeed be much easier for follow-up titles to be developed. At any rate, players likely won’t have to wait five years to play Part 2 as they have for Part 1.
Final Fantasy 7 Remakewill be out on April 10 for the PS4.
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