The new age of gamers who aren't obsessed with the game aren't going to go out in drones to buy an old JRPG. Such a game would basically be geared at all the people who fell in love with the PSX version. Unfortunately, many of the people who are interested will use one of the following reasons to justify pirating it instead of buying it:
(i) I already bought the game once. (ii) They changed the game too much / didn't make it exactly how I wanted (iii) They didn't change enough (iv) New Square sucks so I'm not giving them money (v) I'm poor
(These people would all play through the entire game of course!)
In this day and age, I think designing a game for profit -- especially with Square's production values -- is a recipe for disaster when the demographic of a game is mainly people who've already played it.
Are either of my two premises flawed?
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Watch me play games! http://www.livestream.com/dabu
From: baron von toast | #005 If there's one thing people love, it's buying games they've already bought. It's a sure thing; they already know they like it!
Darn right.
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"I couldn't stand a day without a past or future. I need to live each moment to keep fighting here and now."
Itd likely pick up a decent amount of new fans. If they pulled it off well enough theyd be golden, not til i started playing the game again recently did I realize how special of a game it really is, and with the correct voice-actors and emotion and updated graphics im sure they could captivate the world once again. Im pretty sure it would outsell recent final fantasies anyways, cuz 12 and 13 sucked and i dont think too many people are even bothering with 14, but i could be wrong >_>
It will sell millions, but would even that be enough to break even? If it's truly the project that longtime fans have been gushing over, then it will probably be the most expansive, expensive one in gaming history. The budget and time would be astronomical. If it took Square that long for FFXIII, I can only imagine the time between announcement to release for FFVII.
Oh, and no matter what happens, many fans will end up disappointed.
-- Yoblazer: http://i43.tinypic.com/25z1non.jpg Watch and you'll see... someday I'll be... part of your world!
From: PartOfYourWorld | #009 It will sell millions, but would even that be enough to break even? If it's truly the project that longtime fans have been gushing over, then it will probably be the most expansive, expensive one in gaming history. The budget and time would be astronomical. If it took Square that long for FFXIII, I can only imagine the time between announcement to release for FFVII.
Oh, and no matter what happens, many fans will end up disappointed.
FF13 was an engine issue. Have the engine, easy game making.
-- Sir Chris http://img.imgcake.com/Chris2pngas.png
Oh, and no matter what happens, many fans will end up disappointed.
Fan reception rarely translates into sales, since they're always a whiny bunch no matter what you put out.
The one reason why a remake might *not* be a great idea is that, while the game would certainly sell, it might not sell enough units to make up for the likely significant production costs. Possibly.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBpfwpOPXNc&NR=1&feature=fvwp ~Pinkie Pie is the best pony~
I understand that Square has done other remakes, but aren't they all portable? They lack the expensive production values of a console port and don't need to sell nearly as many copies to be profitable.
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Watch me play games! http://www.livestream.com/dabu
You could take all those FF1/2/4 re-releases / remakes combined, and it still wouldn't amount to the budget required to reimagine FFVII in HD on the PS3.
pfft, they just need to put it to a handheld and leave it at that. and then do it for a later console or handheld again. if they can make FF4 on the PSP and the DS, FF1 twice on the PSP and once on the DS, they can surely milk FF7 to literally every system with each being a different version than the last.
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The future must protect the clone's past. "Maybe it's a tentacle, molesting the planet itself. - Aschen Brodel.
they made a few console ports of all but 3 as well, but it was for the PS1. maybe the PS2 has an FF1 and 2 on it, because what doesn't. with that said, portables are the way Square does most of their things anyway so it's really not something to be surprised of if/when that's where it heads to. that's all japan plays anyway.
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The future must protect the clone's past. "Maybe it's a tentacle, molesting the planet itself. - Aschen Brodel.
SE would also have to consider how many other projects would have to halted to put people on a FFVII remake. It's essentially the same undertaking that would be required to make a brand new FF game, only without the guarantee that it would sell the 5 million that's expected from a new entry in the series. Remakes rarely outsell their originals, and given how Final Fantasy has lost some of the brand power it once had, it's not a sure thing that it would even top FFXIII's 5 million -- and that was a multiplatform release.
If you aim lower, on a platform like Vita, you're going to lose some of the 'wow' factor that people would expect from a remake. It would cost a lot less, but you would also probably turn off a good chunk of potential buyers. It's not as big of a deal when it's on a portable. There's no real solution for them with a FFVII remake, which is why it's understandable that it hasn't happened yet. If a big company like Sony came forward to help fund the development, then maybe it would happen, but I doubt we'll see it from SE alone any time soon. They're not the most efficiently run company anymore.
'modern mainline FF games' is fairly selective then - if you mean 'new numbered games' then sure, those stick to consoles (and PCs for the MMOs). if you mean 'stuff akin to X-2,' then it's already been done.
either way, it's a good thing that FF7's not modern. and outside of the PS1, it's handhelds all the way for most side stuff - you don't need to look further than Crisis Core to realize that.
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The future must protect the clone's past. "Maybe it's a tentacle, molesting the planet itself. - Aschen Brodel.
pfft, the solution to that 'problem' is easy - make the Vita version as the retail one and later release an updated graphics package version for the PS3/4 on PSN a couple months in to a year later, along with an upscaled versions of Crisis Core.
this is of course after the 3DS gets FF7-3D running on a modified Crisis Core engine (gotta save dem costs).
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The future must protect the clone's past. "Maybe it's a tentacle, molesting the planet itself. - Aschen Brodel.