I'm sure you all are quite aware of what world we're living in. The new generation of children are so used to technology that they need constant entertainment. You think this would not really affect the game industry in a negative way, being that games are a form of entertainment, but you'd be wrong. "Twitch gaming" is at an all time high because of this. Games have shifted to providing a constant stream of action packed experiences that seem like they require ADHD to fully appreciate. Story is taking a backseat and campaigns are getting shorter. Hell, I know kids who haven't even started the single player campaigns on Battlefield or Call of Duty games. It seems like more and more the gaming industry is shifting its focus to provide fast paced casual gaming to the masses. This is exactly why I feel like Final Fantasy VII will never be remade.
The core "for" arguement I hear often is "but it would make Square Enix so much money". I think this is actually false. You can scream how it's the best RPG ever made (you'd be wrong though) or how it's a timeless classic, but let's face it, that guarantees nothing. With a whole new generation of gamers already at the wheel for today's gaming market a FFVII HD remake/remaster seems like it would make far less money than people anticipate. Here's why.
- Age difference. My younger brother is one of the new generation of gamers. Despite all my excellent tutelage he never quite got into the classics. Either way FFVII should be its own motivator right? Wrong. My brother doesn't remember FFVII, and why should he? He was 7 when it came out. When he was 7 he was too busy playing Grand Theft Auto 2 or Crash Bandicoot to care about an RPG that required in excess of 80 hours to reasonably complete. Now you can ask him if he remembers Final Fantasy X and he will say yes, but VII, not so much. Already you have a generation who has only heard of what an awesome game VII was, much in the way we hear stories about how awesome woodstock was. They, like we, simply can't understand why because you had to be there.
- DLC mentality. A friend once mentioned to me that truthfully a game like Final Fantasy VII would not be as great had it been released this console generation. As more and more companies begin to exploit the possibilities of DLC sales games you never thought would are begining to include DLC. A game like FFVII which was made to be complete would suffer from of any kind of DLC and heaven forbid things actually be removed to make preorder bonuses or console exclusives. This leaves publishers in a place they don't want to be, no way to make money over a prolonged time through DLC content.
- Backlog. I don't know if this is a reason people are even considering but Square-Enix has already promised us a lot. They seem to be having problems keeping up with those promises. First off is the lack of the infamous Fabula Nova Crystallis addition: Final Fantasy Versus XIII. The game has been delayed so many times people are begining to forget it was even supposed to exist. Then there is the promise of a playable Final Fantasy XIV Online. Yeah, that's going well. On top of all that you have rumors of XV on the horizon and the inevitable FFXIII-3 (you all know it is going to happen). With all these games in the Final Fantasy series alone, it's hard to imagine a remake would happen anytime in the next 5 years, further widening the age gap.
Look, I'm not a Final Fantasy VII hater. I thoroughly loved the game. I'm also not some pessimist that thrives on strangling people's dreams to death. I simply call it like I see it and this is what I see. A gaming market that has changed, not for the worse (though some games make it seem that way), but just different from the one we grew up with. Unfortunatly those changes make it difficult to see a remake for Final Fantasy VII on the horizon.
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