“4 or 5 Installments”: Yoshida and Hamaguchi Warn Remakes of Classic Final Fantasy Games Would Be Massive Undertakings

If you’re holding out hope for a modern, ground-up remake of Final Fantasy VI, VIII, or IX, you might want to settle in for a long wait. Speaking during a panel discussion, Final Fantasy XIV director Naoki “Yoshi-P” Yoshida and Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy director Naoki Hamaguchi addressed fan demands for classic remakes—warning that adapting older titles to modern AAA standards would require even more scope than the FF7 trilogy.

Responding to a fan question about whether other fan-favorite entries could get the FF7 treatment, Yoshida made the sheer logistical reality clear:

“Look at Final Fantasy 6, it’s such an incredibly huge game. The scale is just immense. And the same applies for other titles like Final Fantasy 8, Final Fantasy 9… If we did remake those other titles, we’d probably end up having to release them in four or maybe even five installments.”

— Naoki “Yoshi-P” Yoshida, Final Fantasy XIV Producer

Why Rebuilding Classic Final Fantasy IPs Is So Difficult

The Final Fantasy VII Remake project was a massive, decade-long commitment for Square Enix Creative Studio 1. Pushing 16-bit sprite classics or PS1-era world maps into modern 3D environments involves staggering development challenges:

• Massive Casts & Globe-Trotting Scale: Games like Final Fantasy VI feature over a dozen playable party members and two distinct world maps (the World of Balance and World of Ruin), requiring immense asset production to recreate faithfully at modern graphical fidelity.

• Team Retainability: Hamaguchi noted how rare it is in the games

• industry for a development team to stay intact for three consecutive titles across a single trilogy. Signing on for a 4-to-5-part series across 15+ years poses massive personnel and studio risks.

• Myth-Busting Rumors: Hamaguchi emphasized that discussing these hurdles isn’t a secret tease for FF6 Remake. “Every time I give that answer to a journalist or someone, the next day there’s an article online saying ‘Hamaguchi will be remaking Final Fantasy 6.’ So I also say ‘no, I am not’ at the same time.”