Video Games

Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3 might happen sooner than we thought

The magic of not firing your development team

Josh Broadwell

Square Enix/GLHF

It turns out Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3 might not take four years to develop after all, as Square Enix says it has the experience to do the job faster. The news comes from comments the dev team made in the recently released Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Ultimania book, translated by Aitai Japan CEO and Twitter user Audrey, where producer Yoshinori Kitase shed a bit of light on the trilogy’s development process.

While we waited four years for Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth to launch, production only took three years. Kitase said the team spent the extra year developing the Intergrade DLC for FF7 Remake, and he believes they can follow a similar three-year schedule for Part 3. Kitase said that confidence – and the ease of developing FF7 Rebirth – comes from one thing: The development team is the same team that worked on Remake from the start.

That comment comes amid thousands of layoffs in the games industry and the threat of substantial talent bleeding and knowledge loss, as developers take their skillsets to other industries. The problem is a serious one, and Michael Douse, head of publishing at Baldur’s Gate 3 maker Larian Studios, even made it a point to say that the studio’s historic success after winning all five game of the year awards only happened as a result of the studio “cherishing” their developers and preserving institutional knowledge.

Whether Kitase’s comments mean we’ll actually see Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3 release in the original game’s 30th anniversary year remains to be seen. However, it sounds like development is, indeed, progressing smoothly. In another section of the Rebirth Ultimania book, co-director Tetsuya Nomura said Part 3's main story is already finished, and he believes the team is just about ready to start voice recording.

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Josh Broadwell
JOSH BROADWELL

Josh is a freelance writer and reporter who specializes in guides, reviews, and whatever else he can convince someone to commission. You may have seen him on NPR, IGN, Polygon, or Rolling Stone shouting about RPGs. When he isn’t working, you’ll likely find him outside with his Belgian Malinois and Australian Shepherd or leveling yet another job in FFXIV.

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