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The story
Yoshinori Kitase, the longtime Square Enix producer behind the Final Fantasy series, spoke about the company’s future direction in an interview with IGN Japan. Touching on influences from Star Wars and the impact of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, he indicated that going forward the company plans to prioritize new title development over remakes. On 5ch, the thread mixed welcome for the shift away from the studio’s long-standing “remake shop” reputation, worry over whether it can actually pull off a new IP, and lingering frustration with past development decisions.
FF’s Yoshinori Kitase on Square Enix’s future — prioritizing new titles over remakes
From Star Wars influences to Clair Obscur, and plans for a battle-focused new title
FF’s Yoshinori Kitase on Square Enix’s future — prioritizing new titles over remakes – Final Fantasy VII Liberation
Source: jp.ign.com / Original article here
What people said
At this point they've lost any reason to exist as a company
If they did something like Bahamut Lagoon or a Yoyo Rebellion arc, that might actually get people talking
Parasite Eve 2 was their masterpiece
He's only talking about Star Wars
Time to go take back the top of the gaming world
Having to study made-up jargon every time is exhausting
I managed up through FF10, but after that it got too tedious and I became the guy who just watches playthrough videos instead
I think they changed the title and are remaking it from scratch
A total do-over
Back in the day I feel like you could still move around even during character dialogue
Now it's twenty, thirty minutes of nonstop cutscene
Though that one was outsourced lol
Development costs way too much
Just stick to remakes already
If a new title flops, who's taking responsibility?
It's none of your business anyway, so who cares
Starting with FF10 it became "handsome-guy reward movie-viewing software"
Looking back, the backlash over FF8 was well within what FF fans could tolerate
We just didn't know real horror yet
I played the FF7 Remake, but it felt like they forcibly stretched the original FF7 paper-thin and crammed in a bunch of pointless minigames
The vibe felt kind of dumb too
I preferred the original FF7's slightly surreal, darker tone
The reason FF was so strong back then was Nobuo Uematsu
The scenarios weren't anything special, and today's Resonance isn't really worse on that front either
The music made all the difference
Yuji Horii's no spring chicken either (note: "Yuu-pon" is a nickname for series creator Yuji Horii)
Once the "big three" are gone
I wonder if a whole new dev team takes over
In a lot of ways DQ12 is basically going to be the last one
Toriyama-sensei and Sugiyama-sensei are both already gone… (note: Akira Toriyama, character designer, and Koichi Sugiyama, composer, both passed away)
Nobody was asking for that realistic, live-action-style handsome-guy direction
Background and key points of this discussion
Yoshinori Kitase is a core Square Enix creator behind the FFVII Remake trilogy and other titles, and in recent years the company has focused heavily on rebuilding existing titles — the FF7 Remake project, Kingdom Hearts, and the Dragon Quest III remake among them — which led some fans to brand it a “remake shop.” The thread’s disagreement centered less on whether the shift itself is good and more on whether Square Enix can actually see a new IP through, with deep-seated distrust rooted in the struggles of past new titles like Forspoken. At the same time, many posts looked back fondly on the FF of the Hironobu Sakaguchi and Nobuo Uematsu era, raising the question of what really carried that era’s strength — the music, the scenarios, or something else. Incidentally, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, mentioned in the original article, is a 2025 RPG from a French studio that received high acclaim and is being watched as an outside factor bolstering Square Enix’s push toward new development — though few replies in the thread addressed this point directly.
*This article is compiled as an excerpt and summary from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “[Square Enix] FF’s Yoshinori Kitase on Square Enix’s future — prioritizing new titles over remakes.”
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