Final Fantasy VII Remake Was the Hardest Part of the Trilogy to Make, Director Says

Final Fantasy VII Revelation will bring the remake trilogy to its conclusion, but director Naoki Hamaguchi says the first chapter was the toughest to develop. Final Fantasy VII Remake had to establish the foundations its successors could build upon, all while meeting the expectations attached to the original RPG.

Hamaguchi discussed the trilogy’s development in an interview with French content creator mistermv. He identified Remake as the most difficult of the three projects, despite the larger ambitions of the games that followed.

When the project restarted, the team initially consisted of about 30 people. Alongside building up its staff and development structure, the team had to decide on standards for graphics, gameplay and overall quality. Genki provided a translation of Hamaguchi’s comments.

Naoki Hamaguchi says the hardest game to develop in the FF7 Remake trilogy was FF7 Remake!

He says they had to restart the project and they only had 30 members at the beginning so they had to build a team and development structure from stratch.

Rebirth and Revelation had a base… pic.twitter.com/N08lIMzj2i

— Genki✨ (@Genki_JPN) November 3, 2026

There was also the pressure of revisiting a game with a large fan base. The developers had to consider whether their work would meet players’ expectations while laying the groundwork for a trilogy rather than a single release.

Tetsuya Nomura was Remake’s main director, with Hamaguchi and Motomu Toriyama serving as co-directors. Hamaguchi went on to direct Rebirth and Revelation.

Both follow-ups inherited the foundation established by Remake, with a team that had grown and developed alongside the project. The gap between installments also gave the developers a chance to consider player feedback. Hamaguchi has said Revelation will probably contain even more content than Rebirth, but the team is changing how it signals side-activity rewards to help players decide what to pursue.

Some changes will be apparent from the start of the final chapter. Revelation will offer Hard Mode on a first playthrough, without the earlier games’ ban on item use. It is scheduled to launch on April 8, 2027, for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2 and PC.

What part of Remake’s foundation would you most like to see carried through to Revelation? Follow us on X, Bluesky, YouTube, Instagram, Steam, and Telegram for more on the trilogy’s final chapter.

Final Fantasy VII Remake

Developed by Square Enix Creative Business Unit I

A modern reimagining of one of the most iconic games of all time, Final Fantasy VII Remake harnesses the very latest technology to recreate and expand Square Enix's legendary RPG adventure for the current generation. Set in a post-industrial fantasy world that has fallen under the control of the shadowy Shinra Electric Power Company, take on the role of Cloud Strife - a mercenary and former member of Shinra's elite Soldier unit - and team up with anti-Shinra organization Avalanche as they step-up their resistance.

• Genre Role-playing (RPG), Adventure
• Platforms Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch 2, PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 5
• Perspective Third person
• Modes Single player
• Release April 10, 2020
• Publisher Square Enix
• Age Rating
• Time to Beat

  Main

  24.3h

  Main + Extras

  38.5h

  Completionist

  60.4h

PlayStation Store Explore Final Fantasy VII Remake Official Site