While Final Fantasy 7 Revelation director Naoki Hamaguchi had previously spoken about taking player feedback into account regarding the minigames in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, when it comes to discussing quantity, however, he doesn’t take player sentiment into account. In an interview with Edge Magazine (via GamesRadar), Hamaguchi spoke about the debates he has seen spring up about the plethora of minigames in Rebirth, and whether Revelation should have less focus on them. And ultimately, he believes this decision is his own responsibility.
“I often see debates about whether it’s better to have more minigames or fewer. However, I don’t think that discussion really gets to the heart of the matter. What I consider first is what kind of gaming experience is best suited to a particular title. In that sense, the overarching policy that ‘the FF7 remakes would offer a gaming experience as rich in minigames as the original’ was my decision as director, and I believe that responsibility is mine to bear.”
On the subject of where player feedback is important for the team, Hamaguchi pointed to aspects like the difficulty of the various minigames, as well as whether they are engaging or not. Generally speaking, he wants players to engage with the minigames because they find them enjoyable, rather than feeling any obligation to engage with them due to necessity.
“I believe we should continuously improve aspects such as whether the game is easy to engage with and whether players can enjoy it without unnecessary stress. We prioritised ensuring that players engage with the minigames because they want to, rather than feeling like they’re being made to play them. I believe that how we can deliver that gaming experience is more important than whether to increase or reduce the number of minigames.”
Back in July, Hamaguchi had spoken about the team having made adjustments to the quality of minigames after the feedback the team got following the release of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. While he noted at the time that there would be “a lot of minigames and a lot of side content” in Revelation, he went on to say that the upcoming title will have smoother interactions with this side content.
“We’re very mindful of the feedback we received for FF7 Rebirth, so we did make a lot of adjustments so that fans can play the minigames and side content sections a lot more smoothly. There will be difficulty settings implemented into the minigames now, and if players feel that it’s not their cup of tea, they have the option to just skip the minigame section, too. And also, most of the rewards are not going to be tied to combat items, either, to give them a feeling of ease.”
Final Fantasy 7 Revelation is being developed for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch 2, and is slated for release on April 8th, 2027. Speaking about the multiplatform release in sharp contrast to the PlayStation-exclusive launches of Remake and Rebirth, Hamaguchi said that it was “an inevitable outcome”.
