FF7 Remake team had to rein in crossover plans to protect FF14’s schedule
Naoki Hamaguchi and Naoki Yoshida reportedly asked their teams to keep the collaboration realistic as Evercold plans took shape.
The team working on the Final Fantasy VII Remake crossover for Final Fantasy XIV: Evercold had plenty of ideas, but director Naoki Hamaguchi said he had to keep the project within realistic limits so it would not interfere with the MMO’s patch schedule.
Hamaguchi discussed the collaboration in an GamesRadar+ interview. He said his team was enthusiastic about coming up with ideas for the crossover, but the release schedule for FF14 had to remain the priority. In his words, allowing the collaboration to disrupt that schedule would be “putting the cart before the horse.”
Hamaguchi and FF14 producer Naoki Yoshida both reportedly told their teams to “calm down” and “be reasonable.” Hamaguchi also asked his staff to review their available bandwidth, determine what was realistic, and give the work the time needed to meet their standards.
Evercold is taking crossovers in a new direction
Evercold will feature crossover content in both of its major raid formats. The eight-player raid series will connect to Final Fantasy VII, while the 24-player alliance raid series will use Neon Genesis Evangelion as its subject.
Final Fantasy XIV has previously borrowed from other games in the series. Seasonal content has drawn from Final Fantasy XV, and the Omega raid series in Stormblood included numerous Final Fantasy references. Evercold’s approach is different because both raid lines are built around crossover concepts rather than keeping that material to smaller seasonal events or story explanations.
The FF7 collaboration is also arriving as the MMO’s team continues work on Evercold after the Dawntrail era. The crossover’s scale will need to fit alongside FF14’s regular development demands, which explains why the directors were already setting boundaries around the project.
That restraint may be especially important for a collaboration involving characters and bosses from Final Fantasy VII. The idea of facing someone such as Sephiroth in the MMO remains a tantalizing possibility, but the teams have not indicated that every idea discussed internally will make it into the finished content.
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Final Fantasy XIV: Evercold
Developed by Square Enix Creative Studio III
