'Final Fantasy 7' news: Enhanced port version for PS4 to release in winter

square-enix.com

Contrary to what many claim, Final Fantasy VII's remake will not be released this year. The game's enhanced port version, however, will be.

Several news portals and gaming-oriented blogs have falsely reported that the Final Fantasy VII remake would be released on PS4 this year. While it is true that the game will have a PS4 release this year, it will be the enhanced port version and not the reported remake.

The enhanced port version for Final Fantasy is technically a republishing of the original game released 18 years ago, but with better graphics and several new things added. After its 1997 release for Playstation, the game has had a series of republishings for several platforms. It was republished in 2009 for PS3, 2012 for the PC, and in 2013, an enhanced port version for the PC was released through Steam. The same enhanced port version is now coming to PlayStation 4.

According Square Enix' Final Fantasy VII page, the game is due to be released on PS4 in the Winter of 2015. "As discussed at this year's E3, Final Fantasy VII will be ported to the PlayStation 4 in Winter 2015," said an excerpt from the letter of a Square Enix representative addressed to IGN after an article in the entertainment website specified a different release date. "The pricing has already been announced last December at $15.99," the representative added.

As for the true remake of Final Fantasy VII, Mike Minotti of Venturebeat.com has recently interviewed Tetsuya Nomura, Square Enix's designated director for Final Fanstay and Kingdom Hearts. He quoted the latter as saying: "Considering that we have remakes of Final Fantasy up to IV and then we have VII — I've been working with Mr. [Yoshinori] Kitase since Final Fantasy V, and we've noticed that V and VI are missing. That bothers me."

Nomura also had an interview with Dengeki Online. The page is in Japanese but Sal Romano of Gematsu published an article with a translated version of Nomura's answers. "We can't talk about any further details, but it won't be a simple remake," the director told Dengeki. "Sometime during the winter, we're planning to have a follow-up report. I believe we're going to announce the official title, at least, but as for other details, we're in the process of determining what we're going to put out," he added.

Below is the teaser trailer for Final Fantasy VII's remake.