As Final Fantasy struggles to stick with younger gamers, FF7 Remake director considers how to bring the JRPG series to new fans after his trilogy is finished

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Naoki Hamaguchi, the director behind the ongoing Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy, has spoken about what comes after his three-part meta saga concludes. He's both open to working on something entirely new and is pretty interested in finding a way to make Final Fantasy appeal to newer generations that are statistically less interested in the long-running series.

Asked about whether he wants to stick with Final Fantasy or do something totally unrelated, in an interview Nintenderos, Hamaguchi leaves the door wide open.

As the trilogy nears completion, Hamaguchi hopes to meet fan expectations when it comes to those who want even more depth from the world and characters of Final Fantasy 7, he says in machine-translated quotes. And as the series as a whole continues trending older, he knows Final Fantasy should probably think of ways to appeal to younger gamers.

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Hamaguchi says he's "very aware" that Square Enix needs to think about how to "expand the potential" of the Final Fantasy franchise for the next generation of fans.

Final Fantasy 14's Naoki 'Yoshi-P' Yoshida recently said the long gaps between Final Fantasy games has meant younger gamers aren't connecting with the series as much. Market research paints a similar picture: 77% of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth players were over 30 years old, at least in the US.

Hamaguchi is both keenly aware of Final Fantasy's aging fanbase and is capable of making big, ambitious games that aren't trapped in the oven for as painfully long as mainline Final Fantasies usually are nowadays – so I'd definitely welcome him in the director's chair for whatever's next.

Still, it's not a sure thing, as he says that if there's fan demand for new things that differ from what Square Enix has done in the past, he's "also eager to face those challenges." Regardless, though, he knows he can't do everything, but thinks it's likely going forward that the number of projects he'll oversee will go up.

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Final Fantasy 7 Remake had "no option other than a trilogy," lead says, since the "sheer volume" of the original PS1 JRPG was too absurd.

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Kaan SerinFreelance contributor

Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that's vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he'll soon forget.

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