In confirmation of gaming industry rumors that hit the internet yesterday, Sony has officially announced its remake of PlayStation's flagship RPG classic Final Fantasy VII for the PlayStation 4. Sony vice president Adam Boyes premiered the remake's first trailer at Sony's E3 press conference earlier today. The game will likely debut in 2017 to mark the original Final Fantasy VII's twentieth anniversary. Long-time Final Fantasy character designer and graphics supervisor Tetsuya Nomura will direct the remake.
Sony's official announcement comes ten years after its initial release of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children—which Nomura also directed—a computer-animated film sequel to the events of the earliest FFVII video game. Final Fantasy VII debuted to massive worldwide sales and critical fanfare in 1997, three years after the original PlayStation console's launch. Of all the older-gen Final Fantasy games of the Nintendo and first-gen PlayStation eras, FFVII is perhaps the only remake that is a sure-shot sales success for Sony and Square.
While FFVII, in particular, is frequently the subject of speculation regarding its adaptation for the newer PlayStation models, this latest announcement and trailer from Sony are the company's first official, full-fledged commitment to such a reboot. This is a new beginning.
