Final Fantasy 9 is next up to get the remake treatment, according to an insider. This comes a year after we heard about the initial rumours, suggesting that the unannounced remake has been in development for some time, and could even be the next big project after Final Fantasy 16 and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.
This update comes courtesy of Jeff Grubb on the Giant Bomb podcast Game Mess Mornings (via ResertEra), and suggests that Square Enix is cooking up far more than it's letting on to the public right now. Here, he says that he has received reassurance that the remake is real, after months of silence from the rumour mill that first brought us the news that it was in development.
Having first been made public in the Nvidia leak back in 2021, many had forgotten about Final Fantasy 9 Remake, with some fearing that the project had been dropped by Square Enix in favour of its other games in development. Grubb, however, reassures us that it's still happening.
"Most of the Square Enix games in [the leak] have been confirmed or even come out by now, except for Final Fantasy 9 Remake and Final Fantasy Tactics Remastered," says Grubb. "I will say I've heard very recently once again [that] Final Fantasy 9 Remake is real. That is real and happening."
He doesn't have much more to share about the game, other than its continued existence, so it's not clear what kind of remake this will be. As we've seen with Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Rebirth, Square Enix isn't afraid to pretty much completely retell a game in a way that strays from the immensely popular source material, so it's anyone's guess what a remake of Final Fantasy 9 ends up looking like.
Don't get your hopes up as we enter this Not-E3 season, however - Square Enix has enough games to promote. Final Fantasy 16 is set to launch this month, so that will likely take up the bulk of the publisher's attention. Then there's Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, which seems to be sticking to its late 2023/early 2024 release window. And given that Square Enix is reportedly "panicking" over 16's apparently lower pre-order figures compared to 15, it won't want to confuse consumers by advertising another game to them anytime soon.
In any case, it looks like Final Fantasy fans have plenty to look forward to. Given that so many of the games involved in the Nvidia leak have gone on to be confirmed, it seems very likely that a remake of Final Fantasy 9 is on the way, whatever that ends up looking like.