The Final Fantasy franchise may see a major announcement in the upcoming months of 2023.
As reported by Video Games Chronicle, Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth producer Yoshinori Kitase updated fans that the game's development was "picking up speed." However, Kitase also teased major news beyond FFVII. "There's also another big announcement unrelated to FFVII that I can't say anything about just yet," he said. "Rest assured we're working hard to make sure 2023 is the most exciting year yet."
Due to the massive leak in 2021 on Nvidia's GeForce Now streaming service, some fans suspect the announcement could be a remaster of Final Fantasy Tactics or a remake of Final Fantasy IX. In September 2021, one Nvidia GeForce Now user unlocked the cloud-based gaming app and shared their findings of unconfirmed games and PC Ports. Among the leaked titles, the hacker confirmed the release of Kingdom Hearts IV and a Chrono Cross remaster ahead of their official announcement.
Along with FF7: Rebirth, Crisis Core Reunion recently hit the shelves as a remaster of the 2007 PlayStation Portable game. While fans continue to enjoy the title, one player pointed out a watermark from Getty Images in the middle of a painting at a Shinra mansion. The editing mistake occurs in three separate places in chapter eight of Crisis Core Reunion. It's unclear if Square Enix paid the fees to license John Crowther's "View from Fleet Street across Ludgate Circus" painting, considering the watermark's presence.
In addition to Final Fantasy VII games, Final Fantasy XVI producer Naoki Yoshida appeared at 2022's The Game Awards to unveil a "Revenge" trailer for the upcoming game. Unlike previous entries in the Square Enix role-playing franchise, FFXVI will not feature an open-world map or turn-based combat. "If we had a development period of about 15 years, we may have had the opportunity of challenging ourselves with an open world," Yoshida remarked. Instead of an open-world mechanism, the FFXVI producer focuses on a cinematic approach to storytelling.
While some anticipate the next installment in the long-running Final Fantasy franchise, Yoshida had to address one FFXVI trailer's lack of diversity. The FF producer touched on why the game features primarily white characters. "Due to the underlying geographical, technological, and geopolitical constraints of this setting, Valisthea was never going to realistically be as diverse as say a modern-day Earth," he said. Yoshida discussed Final Fantasy XVI's setting of medieval Europe and stressed they wanted to focus less on the "outward appearances" of characters and more on "who they are as people."
Source: Video Games Chronicle