Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi has stated that he has “no interest” in returning to the series. Sakaguchi left Square Enix all the way back in 2001 after working on several Final Fantasy titles including other projects like Chrono Trigger before leaving the company.
Speaking openly in a recent interview with Bloomberg, Hironobu Sakaguchi talked about how far the Final Fantasy series has come since it began in the 80s. However, in one part of the interview he expresses that he has “no interest in revisiting Final Fantasy or any of his old franchises” after the creator said he felt outside of Square Enix’s walls since he left the studio. Sakaguchi has since gone on to establish his own studio, Mistwalker, which worked on titles like Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey.
More importantly, Mistwalker developed the 2021 RPG Fantasian, which originally launched through Apple Arcade but will get a wider release on additional platforms like PlayStation and Xbox later this year as Fantasian Neo Dimension. Ironically, the re-release is being published by Square Enix.
Square Enix has pushed ahead with the Final Fantasy series since Sakaguchi’s departure from the company with several sequels, spin-offs and remakes. This includes the ambitious Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy project, which aims to remake the popular 1997 game across three titles – two have been released so far; 2020’s Final Fantasy VII Remake and 2024’s Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. The third and final chapter doesn’t have a release date yet.
Despite garnering some of the highest review scores of the year, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth was considered a financial failure by Square Enix, revealing that the sequel only sold half as much as 2020’s Remake. This influenced the company’s decision to back away from console exclusivity deals and focus more on releasing its future AAA games on multiple platforms. Of course, the wider availability can only mean greater sales potential.
Source: Bloomberg
