Final Fantasy VII Revelation is still months away, but a prominent voice in the Final Fantasy universe is already teasing what’s next for publisher Square Enix after the game releases next year.
I spoke exclusively with Yoshinori Kitase, who serves as producer of the Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy, director of the original Final Fantasy VII (along with Final Fantasy VI, VIII, X, and Chrono Trigger), and brand manager of the Final Fantasy franchise at Square Enix, at the Lucca Comics & Games Festival 2026.
We spoke at length about Kitase’s decades-long involvement in the Final Fantasy franchise, and why he’s ready to turn the page. During the conversation, Kitase shared plans about what’s next for Square Enix, if he’s still interested in film adaptations, and which Final Fantasy game fans inside and outside the company want to remake next.
Square Enix Will Likely Invest in New Titles Moving Forward
IGN: I want to of course talk about Final Fantasy, but also Square Enix in general. Square Enix is very famous for both new IP and also remakes. How do you balance that as a company? Are they both equally important to the company at this moment and also moving forward?
Yoshinori Kitase: I think that mainly we are more likely to invest in new titles and new games, but at the same time, for example, this time with the [Final Fantasy VII] remake, there was me and other creators who worked on the original game, which we had really strong feelings towards. And we really wanted to create something new related to the old game to allow new users to play and to know the appeal of this game as much as the old users who play the old game. So there might be different cases like this one where the company is willing to invest in remaking old projects and other kinds of games like it happened this time.
The One Quality That Makes Final Fantasy Special
IGN: Speaking of Final Fantasy, you've worked on a lot of Final Fantasy games. Is there one quality that you think that makes Final Fantasy special or popular?
Yoshinori Kitase: I think that the main thing would be the characters who are part of the game and the way they are developed throughout the game. So if I have to take just one thing that makes the game special, I would say [it is] the characters of the game and the way they are developed.
Also, one more thing I think would be the fact that, originally, the aesthetic of the game was really influenced by European culture. And then as the time went by, the game took more and more things from the Japanese culture, because the other creators working on the game and I, we grew up in Japan of course, so we were in contact with comics and anime and Japanese comics. And that started having a main role in the development of the game.
So I think thanks to the original influence from European culture and then the influences from Japanese culture, it helped create something which is unique in its genre. And I think that might be something that's really appreciated by the fans all over the world.
Square Enix Wants to Return to the World of Film
IGN: Final Fantasy and other Square Enix titles have been adapted in various formats: movies for example. Is that something that is still important to the company and is that something that the company will be looking to do in the future?
Yoshinori Kitase: Given the fact that we created this game, the remake of Final Fantasy VII, which explored the world of Final Fantasy VII way more than the original version, I think that it would be nice to have in the future games or TV series inspired by the story of Final Fantasy. And I don't see why that should not be a possibility in the future.
Kitase’s Reaction to Clair Obscure: Expedition 33
IGN: Speaking of things that have been inspired by Final Fantasy, a recent very popular game was Clair Obscure: Expedition 33. I'm wondering if you have any opinions about turn-based combat in RPGs. Has Square Enix thought about that? What is your opinion on big games like that are inspired by your work?
Yoshinori Kitase: To be honest, I know the game. I spoke with the creators and I'm actually very happy about the fact that they have been so inspired by Final Fantasy and they created a new game from that. And also, I was inspired by movies and in particular by Star Wars when I was young.
So I took inspiration from many things I was interested in when I was younger and I used that inspiration to create my games. So I think it's beautiful that there's this kind of cycle where we inspire each other and we take things from each other's games. I think it's something beautiful and it should be like that.
Two Star Wars Inspirations for Final Fantasy Confirmed
IGN: Since you were such a fan of Star Wars, is there a particular scene or character or theme from that universe that directly inspired something, whether it be in Final Fantasy or any of your other works?
Yoshinori Kitase: I think I like Star Wars so much that I was afraid of using anything related to [it] because I was worried that it became something just exactly identical to Star Wars. So I don't think there's something from the movie that I used directly as an inspiration for my games.
IGN: So it was more just being a general fan and absorbing those stories?
Yoshinori Kitase: Actually, something that I used as an inspiration inside the game was the name of a character in Final Fantasy VI. I wasn't sure about the name I was going to use for those characters. And I ended up using the names of characters from Star Wars, [Biggs and Wedge].
I ended up using [those names] as an homage to Star Wars. One more that came to my mind is from Final Fantasy X, where I had to create [Blitzball] for the game inside the fantasy setting. And I used an idea from Star Wars Episode 1 where there's this [pod] race and the fact of using sport inside a fantasy context, I took this idea directly from Star Wars.
Kitase’s Favorite Final Fantasy Game
IGN: This may be an impossible question. But of all the Final Fantasy projects that you’ve worked on, do you have one that is your favorite? Do you have one that you look back on and are most satisfied with?
Yoshinori Kitase: This is a very difficult question, but I think actually it might be Final Fantasy VII just because the same thing: each episode changes every time. But in this case, I have been handling these games ever since the original came out in 1997. Up until today, it's been 30 years and I've been working on the same characters, on the same storyline. So I think this might be the one I feel more attached to.
Does Kitase Want to Remake Another Final Fantasy Game?
IGN: Obviously, the Final Fantasy VII remake has been a huge project spanning many, many years. If you had a blank check; if you had no challenges or restrictions to reimagine another classic Square Enix game in the way that you have done with Final Fantasy VII, do you have one in mind?
Yoshinori Kitase: It's a very difficult question because if I say, "I will remake this game, in five seconds all the world is going to wait for the remake of this game." So it's very difficult.
I was very fulfilled by the development of the Final Fantasy VII remake. And at the moment I would like to create new games, but I don’t have any particular feeling towards any kind of remake for a while. So I don’t think I will work on another remake anytime soon. But inside the company and also among the Final Fantasy fans, there's been many people asking for a remake of Final Fantasy VI, so who knows?
What Type of Game Kitase Wants to Make Next
IGN: Are there any types of stories that you haven’t gotten to work on yet that you’re interested in exploring in your next chapter?
Yoshinori Kitase: The new generations are very fond of battle games, not much centered on the story, but on the battle action. Maybe in the future I would like to try and explore that kind [of game] without losing the characteristics of a Final Fantasy story. Maybe trying to create something more focused on that. That might be a new challenge since the new generation seems to be very interested in this kind of game.