Why a Final Fantasy VII remake will never happen
Yes, we all want it. But we ain't gettin' it.
Right now, it seems far more likely that the entire video game industry is going to collapse of its own weight than anything the longtime fans of video games want to happen, but chief among these prospects is the age-old question of a Final Fantasy VII remake. This is a good idea; don't get me wrong. It would be the most talked-about game for ages to come, and no new assets would have to be designed at all. But it's not going to happen and I'll tell you why: Square-Enix will never have enough money to do it, they don't have any sense of what their fanbase wants, and they're too afraid that people would simply pirate the game to spend the kind of money and get to know their fanbase well enough to make it happen.
Let's be honest here: although this game is a good idea, the production of it would be freaking stratospherically expensive. To make the original PSX version into a high definition game alone would be an undertaking, but the fans are asking for more than that. While we're on the subject, what are we asking for? The short list includes hi-resolution character models, remixed/rerecorded music, a new script, possible new locations, new characters (for those who want the Crisis Core stuff mixed in, which it almost certainly would be), and on top of it all, having to get an ATB system running on a modern system with all of the above already working against them...starting to see where I'm going with this? This game would cost millions of dollars to make, and SE has been flagging lately when it comes to making the big bucks they always used to. Where are they going to get the money? Certainly, video games aren't the moneymakers they used to be, what with the economy being in bad shape, not to mention rampant software piracy. The lack of fundage is strike one.
Secondarily, there is some doubt as to whether SE knows or cares that fans want a remake. They've said they won't do it until they've made a game that surpasses FF7 (though I suspect they mean a game that's a bigger moneymaker than FF7, tbh), but that kind of thinking just proves how out of touch they are with their fans, particularly longtime fans (like myself) who are still playing the old Final Fantasy games from here to kingdom come.
It's an often-talked about subject among the fans; why shouldn't it be an often-talked about subject at SE headquarters?
So this brings me to my final point, which I mentioned a couple of times already: software piracy. Because of the poor state of the economy, and the mercurial nature of the internet, a hotly touted product like a FF7 remake would be a prime target for pirates. If they did release a modern version of FF7, chances are that hundreds of thousands of people will simply pirate the game unless they code in a metric crapton of annoying anti-piracy features. Can you picture no physical copy of the game? DRM out the wazoo? No instruction manual, no box? Yeah.
Because of the state of the video game industry (read: FUBAR), the perceived "niche"-ness of the fanbase's desire for it, and the just plain unrealistic budget it would require, my prediction is that SE will be liquidated long before any serious remake talk even begins.
The tech demo from whenever it was looked wonderful, and I would have played that game silly, but it's destined to go down in history as the biggest cocktease in the history of mass media. The dream is over; what can we say? There is no remake, there never will be a remake, and SE are a bunch of blatherskytes for teasing us with it all those years ago.
Your best bet at this point is to let it go. If dreams of the FF7 remake are your favorite pet, then sorry, but Rover's going to sleep, buckos.
Quote:
Cid
"Money, moola, dinero!
My dream was just a financial
number to them!"
