Longtime Square Enix Developer Naoki Hamaguchi Promoted To Co-Director On FFVII Remake

TheGamer

By Scott Baird

Published Apr 1, 2019

Final Fantasy VII Remake will now be helmed by two creators, as Naoki Hamaguchi has risen to the role of Co-Director alongside Tetsuya Nomura.

Final Fantasy VII Remake will now be helmed by two creators, as it has been revealed that Naoki Hamaguchi has risen to the role of Co-Director alongside Tetsuya Nomura.

Naoki Hamaguchi has been involved with the Final Fantasy series since Final Fantasy XII, before moving on to the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy and Final Fantasy XIV in various programming roles. Hamaguchi was the Project Leader on Mobius Final Fantasy before stepping down from the role in 2018 in order to focus on Final Fantasy VII Remake.

The development staff of Final Fantasy VII is still hiring and it has been revealed (via. Nova Crystallis) on the recruitment page for the game on Square Enix's website that Naoki Hamaguchi is the Co-Director of Final Fantasy VII Remake, which is a role that he will be sharing with Tetsuya Nomura. Hamaguchi was previously the Development Leader on the game, but he has since been promoted.

Tetsuya Nomura was originally listed as the sole Director of Final Fantasy VII Remake, even though the original version of the game was directed by Yoshinori Kitase, who is working as a Producer on the remake. Nomura has been working on Final Fantasy VII Remake and Kingdom Hearts III for several years now. Kingdom Hearts III was finally released this year, which led some fans to hope that he would now be able to dedicate more time to Final Fantasy VII Remake.

Final Fantasy VII Remake will be Naoki Hamaguchi's directorial debut, which means that the higher-ups at Square Enix must have incredible faith in his abilities, as they are trusting him with one of their most valued properties. There is no denying that Final Fantasy VII Remake is one of the most highly-anticipated games of this generation and Square Enix has a lot riding on its success.

Final Fantasy VII Remake was originally revealed during E3 2015 and there has been almost no information revealed about the game since then, other than the fact that it's still in development. The fact that Square Enix is still hiring staff for the game might be worrying to some fans, but it shows that they are taking the development seriously.

There is a good chance that the Final Fantasy VII Remake might be pushed to the PlayStation 5 and the next Xbox console generation, but the only thing that matters is the quality of the final product.

Final Fantasy VII Remake is currently in development for PlayStation 4.