In a rather open interview with Italian site Multiplayer -- as translated by Kingdom Hearts Insider -- Square Enix game director and artist Tetsuya Nomura admits that both Final Fantasy VII Remake and Kingdom Hearts III were announced "too early".
"I am well aware of the fact that we announced it too early, but even in the industry, word was beginning to spread that we were working on the game, so we just decided not to keep it more secret and officially reveal it," explains Nomura. In other words, the company wanted to make its projects official before they were leaked.
We suppose that's fair, but at the same time, the tactic has undoubtedly had a negative impact of its own. "In our case, we receive pressure from the fans even when we do not announce anything. They’re always asking us ‘are you working on this?’ or ‘why don’t you make a sequel for that?" Nomura says, alluding to the near constant requests from fans to see something -- anything -- of titles like Final Fantasy VII Remake.
Again, we can see where Nomura is coming from, but ultimately, we feel like you can't just reveal something as huge as a remake of Final Fantasy VII and then let the whole thing go dark for two or three years. What do you expect eager fans to do, exactly? People on the internet barely have any patience to begin with.
So what do you make of this? Does Nomura have a point, or has Square Enix simply dropped the ball? Feed us some honest opinions in the comments section below.
[source multiplayer.it, via khinsider.com]
Comments 31
Too early for who? I've been nothing but happy to hear they've been working on a FF7 remake. I didn't think they'd ever bother frankly. I'm glad they set the record straight.
"People on the internet barely have any patience to begin with."
That's the problem, ain't it. Kids.
I don't believe it
But according to the Internet it was Sony's fault so don't feel to bad guy
This is Nomura, the same man who got booted off of his own project after 7 years of nothing, and his replacement pushed it out the door in 3.
Sure the games are announced too soon, but SquareEnix probably also expects the games to be out in a usual development cycle. Clearly they can be, it's just the one common factor between all these MIA games won't admit he's a better artist than project manager.
"I am well aware of the fact that we announced it too early, but even in the industry, word was beginning to spread that we were working on the game, so we just decided not to keep it more secret and officially reveal it"
I've been saying this for a while now. The problem is the development cycle, not the announcement itself.
I think he already said this. At the time KH3. And in the case of FFVII Remake he didn't know he was directing the game.
This was always SE Marketing jumping the gun too early.
@naruball Development cycles not always follow the initial plan, things change, whether is decisions at technical, management, or even corporate level, there is always unpredictable factor that can change the roadmap initially planed.
There was no reason to announce these games if we weren't going to have them by now.
You know whats great about gaming these days? Open comminication. Look at the kickstarter devs like double fine who have taken gamers on a journey with them through the development of their game.
Personally i think people need to give square a break, but i get it. And given ff7 remake is a passion project for the fans, why not take the fans with you. I think openly talking to us about the design decisions, cuts and tweaks and the development process would be fascinating, garner good will and help to stop all the abuse square are getting.
Give it a try Square. We know the game is coming, we already know the ending and major twists, so no need to be secretive in the same way. bring us on the journey and bring people back on board
@kyleforrester87 Well if they did not reboot everytime it could take less then 10 years. The first trailer looked great could not understand the shift im sure the make it a live service game.
Ya don't say?
Solution is simple, when you announce a game too far in advance to avoid leaks also announce it is at least "2 or 3 years away, maybe longer". Problem solved.
Nobody in their right mind expected Death Stranding soon after showing it.
Square Enix needs to admit it has not only a communication problem but also a well documented delay problem after FFXIII Vs. took 10 years and a name change. They no longer get or have the benefit of the doubt, what they have is a reputation as a company known as much for it's years long delays as much for it's games at this point.
It's OK to announce a game years in advance, just make sure you also announce a years long timeline. And then stick to it. And when you can't stick to it, announce that too.
There's also the matter of FFVIIR being episodic which they haven't addressed since soon after the initial reveal. They need to reaffirm to us what their plans are for the game. B/c not only are they the delay company, they are also the company that released FFXV in such a dire state it is taking 2 years and 3 separately purchased season passes to complete. That's about $130 for 1 complete game. So we're all wondering now what the "finished" FFVIIR will look like. I'm not optimistic.
I'm really looking forward to KH3 but I'm not buying it Day 1 when it's likely to only be half done.
@rjejr They were pretty clear with the trailer I thought "The Reunion at hand may bring joy, it may bring fear. But let us embrace whatever it brings."
Point is, it's all fun and games.
In other news, the Pope was seen attending a Catholic religious ceremony on Sunday, and bears admit to carrying light reading material with them when entering the woods.
More at eleven.
I generally prefer it when a game is announced less than 12 months from release. Keeps things exciting. But they have to do whatever works best for them.
@LieutenantFatman I do love a short window between announce and release, too. How cool is it Resi 2 has a locked in release date?
At the same time though I won't get bent out of shape if we know years in advance.
I think it will be great if squareenix can be like capcom now, announce game with release date (like dmc 5 and re2 remake) rather than announcing it when the game just began development.
@kyleforrester87
Yes, Resi 2 was exactly what I was thinking of! Seeing all the exciting news, then being told January is the icing on the cake.
But yes, I appreciate sometimes there are different strategies that require games to be announced a lot further out. If the PS5 keeps the news to games within 12 months I suspect that would be a bit too risky as everyone would be saying things such as, "Dead on arrival!"
Could be catastrophic.
@wiiware As he said, it will leak anyway, so that won't work
@kyleforrester87 That example only works until you realise they announced Resident Evil 2 Remake back in 2015
The difference is though...Square made the mistake of showing gameplay from a game that they scrapped two years later.
An announcement that it exists is one thing, see Bayonetta 3, Metroid Prime 4, Pokemon 2019, Medievil, Nioh 2, the aforementioned Resident Evil 2...but if you show GAMEPLAY that implies its closer to being done than not...
personally i don't care how long a game takes i prefer to know that it even exists
but i can see where they are coming from, if they announce it too early people moan if they hold back and don't announce it, people moan
i know you brought up a game as big as FFVII but for a game that big it's a no win situation for Square no matter which way they do it
@Knuckles-Fajita all valid points, but who the hell cares?
@kyleforrester87 ""The Reunion at hand may bring joy, it may bring fear. But let us embrace whatever it brings."
They needed 1 more comma:
"But let us embrace whatever it brings, whenever it brings it."
@rjejr works just fine either way if you ask me
@kyleforrester87 The people they hyped up by consistently failing to effectively communicate.
@Knuckles-Fajita the young kiddies who still live at home with mum and dad, you mean? Ah..
@kyleforrester87 Amen man, kids can be super impatient.
I don't care how long it takes to release, even if it ends up being a PS5/PS6 game.
I think it is time people realize games take a long time to make! I would rather Publisher does it right than some screenshot leak garbage going on for months imo.
I'm happy to hear about games years before they are ready seems normal to me been gaming a long time though.
I am thankful for this delay. I was out of PlayStation gaming for a while and when I heard they were remaking FF7 I went out and bought a PS4.
I have now enjoyed many great games on the PS4 as a result. I still look forward to FF7 more than any other, but am happy what it brought me to experience also.
Yeah, I think one issue which makes a long development cycle and an early announcement palatable is the state of the console library. For me personally, despite my teasings of Square and other developers whose games take many years to be released, I’m not too upset given the fact my PS4 backlog is enormous and I have plenty to keep me busy. If I was an XboxOne owner, I’d be pretty impatient to get this released.
Too early? Cant beat TESVI though; now that is the very definition of "too early"
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