According To Square Enix CEO, Their Rule For Remakes Is That They Need To Surpass The Original Title

In a recent interview with Game Informer, Square Enix CEO, Yosuke Matsuda, has revealed that the developer is willing to remake a bunch of their previous titles — although these remade versions need to be superior to the original game they would, hypotetically, decide to refurbish.

"If it’s a popular series, we want to revive the whole series regardless of what the profitability looks like on individual titles. We’d rather put the entire series out there so it can be played again," explained Matsuda.

This actually agrees with what Matsuda said a few weeks ago, which suggested that Square Enix are currently working on making their entire library of games available for players to easily access — as the company really wants players to keep playing games that are no longer available.

When strictly referring to remakes, like the long-awaited Final Fantasy VII Remake, Matsuda does reveal that it is more challenging than what people would imagine — since they have made it a golden rule to develop remakes only if they are willing to offer something new; not just something that looks visually better.

"Remakes are harder, more challenging than you might think. Just by nature of being a remake, it means that there was an original and I believe that you have to be able to surpass the original. It's not enough just to do straight reprints of the old one because you also want to get new fans to be able to enjoy it," explains Matsuda while also adding that "there are the old fans who know the old game, and at the same time, you want new people to enjoy it. I think you really need to achieve both of these things and that's why I say it's quite challenging." 

When Final Fantasy VII Remake was revealed, everyone thought that it would be an enhanced version of the original game, but Square Enix has stated that this game is only the first of a series of episodes; each digging deeper into the story of the original Final Fantasy VII.

Square Enix's inititative to remake games only if these are going to offer a different, more extensive experience than the original titles is definitely an interesting one. Hopefully, they will know how to handle it appropriately moving forward, since there are already some people disappointed in the fact that Final Fantasy VII Remake will not be just one game, but a series based on the original.