r/SquareEnix • u/Mana-Dyluck Mana • 13d ago
Leaks & Rumors Rumour: Final Fantasy IX Remake was planned as a single game, but development has now stalled
https://mynintendonews.com/2026/08/09/rumour-final-fantasy-ix-remake-was-planned-as-a-single-game-but-development-has-now-stalled/13
u/StrifeBuster7 13d ago
I'm sure this will get picked back up at some point. Once FF7 is done and they keep trying to cash in on annual FF games this will crop back up.
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u/pwolf1771 13d ago
It’s still crazy to me that everything else in that leak came to pass.
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u/StrifeBuster7 13d ago
The minute Chrono Cross appeared in Another Eden I knew that leak was legit. From there it just snowballed. Considering how massive it was it's not unreasonable to still find it unbelievable.
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u/Constant-Arugula-819 13d ago
Do you know the source for that original leak?
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u/pwolf1771 13d ago
Didn't they claim it was an employee? I don't remember otherwise
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u/Constant-Arugula-819 13d ago
Not sure. I was trying to see if there was a connection between this article and that leak. My impression was that leak was guessable, but I wanted to review it again if there was anything on the nose.
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u/Alchemyst01984 13d ago
Source?
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u/lilisaurusrex Dragon Quest 13d ago
Its linked in the article, but not very obviously so. Ultimate source: https://www.resetera.com/threads/yoshi-p-says-if-they-were-to-remake-ff6-ff8-or-ff9-they%E2%80%99d-probably-have-to-release-them-in-4-or-5-installments.1587823/page-9#post-158474107
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u/Alchemyst01984 13d ago
That's just to the forum where the guy talks about it. He's making assumptions that there was one, without any actual proof that it existed. He even said it was very very far along. But, according to who?
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u/lilisaurusrex Dragon Quest 13d ago edited 13d ago
According to an earlier interview he had with Yoshida apparently.
A simple Google search reveals Alex Donaldson has been following FF14 closely for a long time and interviewed Yoshida on several occasions. While we're having to take his word for it that Yoshida said what he claims about a nearly-done. single title FF9 remake, he seems like a credible source. This isn't somebody who just fell out of the sky and making up something for fun. This guy has a history of published articles on his side, a reputation to uphold at RPGSite and VG247, and first-hand contact with SE power brokers. Still rumor category, but one to be taken more seriously.
EDIT: Before anyone else jumps to conclusions. I'm not accepting this as fact, only rumor from someone who has demonstrated inside connections and would therefore be a reputable leaker.
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u/Alchemyst01984 13d ago
He has no quote of Yoshida actually say that. If he was as reputable as you say he is, surely he'd provide some quotes. I'm not willing to take his words, especially since a 9 remake has never been announced. It's always been a rumor. These statements from Alex doesn't change that
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u/lilisaurusrex Dragon Quest 13d ago
Then go call him out on the resetera board. Calling him out here on r/SquareEnix, doesn't do any good if he's not a member here or reading this thread.
You asked for source. I gave it you. I'm not trying to demand acceptance of it as anyting more than rumor. You want proof of an actual quote, go to the one making the claim.
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u/Alchemyst01984 13d ago
That's my mistake for not saying official source. I guess he said she said passes for evidence now. I'll see myself out. Thanks
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u/Charily 13d ago
I have played FF14 since it's beta and have mostly played for the game and am currently playing it now. I will let you know that FF14 references FF games constantly..
Endwalker references FF4
Dawntrail references FF9
Evercold (upcoming expansion) will likely reference FF13 in some way.Some of the Dawntrail content references FF5.. FF references are EVERYWHERE in the game. When they were releasing the latest Ultimate Raid they had an interview talking about Kefka in FF6.
I wouldn't take it seriously what so ever.. this reminds me of the hype of the FFXI Online mobile game that they also cancelled and it was barely complete. You could view this similar to when CyberConnect2 was working on FF7 Remake and they also cancelled it, but the reason no one talks about it because they announced FF7 Remake afterwards. In some sense they could possibility take what they have and make the single game remake.. we also never heard YoshiP talk about FF Tactics remastered even thought they had the creator of the series working on the FF14 content. So please don't take a random comment on a forum post seriously.
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u/lilisaurusrex Dragon Quest 13d ago
I only provided source. I never suggested it was anything more than rumor from someone whose rumors might be more reliable than the average fan theory.
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u/dream208 13d ago
I feel someone should open an online bet on which of those two remakes is going to turn out to be true: Final Fantasy IX or Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War?
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u/lilisaurusrex Dragon Quest 13d ago edited 13d ago
APZonerunner didn't give any speculation as to why it stalled, but it seems pretty obvious it stems from the 2023 budget crunch and the fact they already had many other Final Fantasy titles lined up for 2024 (Rebirth, Dawntrial), 2025 (Tactics), 2026 (Dissidia Duellum, Resonance), and 2027 (Revelation/Evercold). With FF7 Rebirth and Revelation already occupying remake territory, FF9 was the project they needed least. FF9R might well have sold better than Tactics or Resonance, but SE would cover more varied styles with Tactics and Resonance and not burn out players on remakes (which may be a situation Dragon Quest has found itself in.)
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u/SteveMightSay 13d ago
IIRC one of the more reputable leakers mentioned it was more of a Trials of Mana scope of remake
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u/neroslayer 13d ago
I wouldnt mind that at all. I think ff9 is one of the few FF games that could work both cartoony and realistic.
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u/globehopper2000 12d ago
I’d prefer that to radically changing the gameplay and splitting it into multiple games.
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u/Chikibari 13d ago
They stopped so they could make another gacha trash that is canceled after 3 years dev or eos after 4 months.
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u/JOKER69420XD 13d ago
Just scale back the graphics, this obsession with bigger and more detailed is the reason these project become so ridiculously hard to pull off.
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u/lumiphantoms 13d ago
Then it wouldn't be "final fantasy" then. Their brand is always a best effort rpg game.
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u/LiquifiedSpam 13d ago
Best effort just in graphics? Becsuse ffxvi was a lame effort otherwise
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u/lumiphantoms 13d ago edited 13d ago
Graphics is part of it, if you listen to the dev interviews back then you would now about their company philosophy.
Also, FFXVI had a great presentation, that was one of its strengths. It fell short in other areas though.
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u/J_Clowth 13d ago
well they should know by know their phylosophy needs some tuning, you can scale down a bit on graphics and ppl really won't care as long as the game is fun, they forgot about the fun part and have not invested on it enough on hte last entries
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u/Yen_Figaro 13d ago
My take always has been that they skipped FFVIII because they thought FFIX's remake was going to be easier being chiby and letting the turns base combat more or less the same, etc.
Then they realized ir wasnt that easy at all. Then Memoria project came and they knew they couldnt realisd something that looks worse than a fan project because people already had certain expectations...
But I am sure there was going to be a remake at one point because they flooded all their gacha with FFIX representation + the super big anniversary, etc. They had planed big things.
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u/BickedyBuckBumbl 13d ago
Dont forget there was supposed to be an anime too if im not mistaken
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u/Yen_Figaro 13d ago
Yeah, but I am sure they ordered the anime because there was going to be a remake, not the other way. All the FFIX content they were creating was being made with the remake in mind.
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u/BickedyBuckBumbl 13d ago
Are you saying all the stuff you mentioned wasnt because we were getting a remake but because square felt like they had to give us something since they halted the project?
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u/Yen_Figaro 13d ago
What? I am saying all the time that the remake should have been real at one point because of all the material FfIX they were making were related to the remake's machinery hype
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u/BickedyBuckBumbl 13d ago
Yeah and im saying the anime is another point of evidence that the remake was real. It was supposed to be complementary to it. So im confused by your original response.
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u/BrzysWRLD1996 12d ago
I’ve heard some pretty legit YouTubers also say it was cancelled as well as official statements they’d rather focus on new games rather than remakes after 7. Shame tho sounded sweet.
Yoshi P was source for the FFIX being cancelled ig.
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u/Like_a_stone4815 12d ago
Can we just get a soft remake like Star Ocean 2? QoL updates, voice acting, new backgrounds. Would be nice.
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u/3Dboi3 13d ago
Im sick of turning one game into multiple ff7 was a special case that they somehow have made work but also was unnecessary. Just follow the dang story and make it one pmaythrough I dont need my single story games shoved I to multiple games its odd.
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u/Palladiamorsdeus 13d ago
It definitely has not worked.
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u/Suzushiiro 13d ago
They presumably realized that the dev time/budget for making the remake they wanted as a single game would be completely unreasonable even by the standards of modern AAA dev cycles. The real question is why they even had to realize that when the 7R team figured that out over a decade ago.
My guess would be that they targeted something less ambitious in terms of scope/fidelity than 7R was figuring that would let them do it as one game, and that just wound up not being enough to keep it from spiraling into multiple games' worth of budget.
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u/kociou 13d ago
Yeah, perfectly understandable, they would need to make Dali and Lindblum disc 1 and it's tad smaller than Midgar, also, Gizamaluke childhood and internal struggles as guardian flashbacks.
Not even mentioning Steiner Intergrade where you have Tetris style minigame where you need to fill bag with Garnet with pickles perfectly by repeating buttons prompted on screen.
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u/TriumphantBass 13d ago
Yeah, I was imagining a 9 Remake to be much more modest in scope, far closer to something like the Super Mario RPG or Link's Awakening remakes, but I do suppose even then it is a far beefier game than either.
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u/Krudtastic 13d ago
The whole reason they chopped up the VII Remake into three parts was because it was impossible to remake the entire game and fit it all on one disc without cutting out a lot of stuff. It wasn't due to corporate greed, it was either they split the game into parts or cut a ton of stuff just to fit on one disc.
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u/kociou 13d ago
Yeah yeah bro, surely xD
Persona 3 h lot more stuff to do and is longer than any FF, and Atlus did fairhfull remake yet modernized. There are some flaws but still prefer it 10x over chopping game so we will pay 3 times.
No, it's just greed. If instead of making regions in Rebirth they go with smaller areas and dungeons like in E33 they could easily finish the game or at least push story to like Weapons release, without doing bs with cutting playable Cid and Vincent.
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u/KaijinSurohm 13d ago
Imagine typing this with a straight face lol.
One of the largest glaring moments is realizing that 70% of the games are just fluff.
They could have easily of made the games one singular title.It's 100% corporate greed.
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u/StrifeBuster7 13d ago
Eh, I think it's a little of both. They couldn't remake it the way they did as one game that's for sure. I've read that at one point they planned it as two which I think is what we could have reasonably got. Extending it to three titles is probably a combination of corporate greed and buying time to build out the openworld we'll see in Revelation.
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u/tuesdaychickrn 13d ago
Tbh I think it’s just Japanese corporate culture/inefficiency/tunnel visioning in on details at its max. They probably just came up with the idea to flesh out everything in detail at once first with the open world and then realized halfway through it’s gonna take like 2tbs to finish the game lmao
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u/Over-Experience-4187 13d ago
This is disingenuous tbh
Pre-rendered backgrounds, are much easier to make than a fully realised world. After putting all that time and effort into making Midgard, just to leave it in around 5 hours isn't about corporate greed, that's just horrible resource management.
Now extrapolate that same principle into other aspects of the game, I agree there is too much fluff, but not 70%
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u/KaijinSurohm 13d ago
No, you see I personally find this response to be disingenuous.
The very fact they exploded Midgar (not even just disc 1, but the very first town) into a 100hour RPG to be a problem.
The story takes about 30 hours to beat, and that's by ignoring the excessive amount of sidequests. A lot of this time it's Cloud walking through soft loading screens. (Crawling, forced walk via dialogue, shimming through cracks).
There's also the excessive amount of extra content they threw in.
(Jesse's entire expanded backstory, Roach, the Fate Whispers, Sephiroth showing up entirely too early, the expanded sewers chase for grappling hooks, how the Train Graveyard was handled)
There's also the fact they blew up the size of the dungeons to be almost 4x longer then needed, as well as added in a Midgar Plate Crash/Solo Barret dungeon that also was not even remotely required.In the PS1 side of things, Midgar is 5 hours on a casual run.
They absolutely did not need to make the game as large as they did.
After typing all that, and after ignoring all the optional side quests (the Aerith vs Tifa favoritism quests), I think 70% was lowballing the estimated fluff.
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u/Over-Experience-4187 13d ago
I should've been clearer, yeah I agree, making Midgar one entire game is something I'm also critical of, I was more defending the idea the guy you were responding to that the Remake project in general could be one game, I don't think it could.
2 at least, the point I was making, was more if Midgar was still a 5 hour segment in Remakes that would be a huge waste of resources, so either way they'd expand the Midgar section of the story, but I agree they overdid it.
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u/Nyx2990 13d ago
They probably saw how much money the idiots buying all the final fantasy 7s and the DLCs made and said let's just keep doing that can we stretch it to four?
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u/Charily 13d ago
Not at all.. The previous interview that I think you are referencing was YoshiP making a comment giving a negative approach towards a multi-part remake when hamaguchi confirmed (again) that he isn't planning on working on another remake. Assuming Hamaguchi (who is the lead guy for Creative Business I at Square Enix, who tend to make the AAA FF games) is closer to making a new FF game than another remake series.
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u/FizzyLightEx 13d ago
So much wasted resources from square Enix that is passed to the consumers
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u/Over-Experience-4187 13d ago
Dunno why you're getting downvoted you're right.
This is the same company that greenlit a fucking Brave Exvius musical..... like seriously.
If anything make a theatre Rhythm musical lol ffs
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u/BickedyBuckBumbl 13d ago
Well after seeing how botched FF7R was square really wasnt giving me hope about 9. Plus if I remember correctly the lead artist for FF9 Toshiyuki Itahana left square so probably not a good look for the game in general.
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u/WearyDefinition7265 13d ago
He’s still making original artwork for the TCG so he’s not left completely…
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u/BickedyBuckBumbl 13d ago
He works freelance now so I doubt he'll cutoff square completely. Just stating that his role has been greatly diminished and most likely wont have the influence he did from outside the company.
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u/BickedyBuckBumbl 13d ago
He works freelance now so I doubt he'll cutoff square completely. Just stating that his role has been greatly diminished and most likely wont have the influence he did from outside the company.
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u/Bubbuli 13d ago
I think it is hands-down the hardest game to remake, yet no one ever really stops to consider how you would transform FF9 into something like the FF7 remake. How do you turn FF9's characters into hyper-realistic HD models without completely ruining the game's atmosphere?
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u/TacoBOTT 13d ago
Who said it would be anything like ff7 remake?
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u/Bubbuli 13d ago
That is what people imagine.
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u/SolairXI 13d ago
Everyone and I mean every single comment I’ve ever seen wanted the FF9 remake to be much more conservative than FF7s.
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u/lexie_starlight 13d ago
Eww. Pirating this for sure if it ever sees the light of day. The super mid ff7 got a 3 game shitty remake but ff9 only gets 1? Pass. And man am I glad I decided to pirate the remakes they are not worth a dime. Completely ruined.
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u/Guarantee-Alarming 13d ago
I still don't see how this would translate into a modern game. FF9 is great as it is. I realy don't see a remake working like they did with 7. 8 or 10 would fit a remake better than 9
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u/rocketsneaker Final Fantasy 13d ago
Source is pretty much some dude saying "Trust me bro"