Square Enix never meant to showcase the "Final Fantasy 7" remake at Gamescom 2015. Nevertheless, it was revealed that the PS4 RPG won't be running the same game engine as "FFXV."
During the event, Nova Crystallis asked "Final Fantasy XV" director Hajime Tabata if the "FFVII" remake will share the same Luminous Engine, to which he replied:
"'Final Fantasy VII' (Remake) is not planned to be made with that."
Tabata never offered an explanation as to why Square Enix would ditch the same game engine although Segment Next speculated that it could have been "a development choice."
"Decisions like this are planning decisions and while the Luminous engine is an in-house engine, there are other engines that can be used, such as Unreal 4."
If so, the "Final Fantasy 7" remake won't be the first Square Enix game to move to the Unreal 4 Engine. As the website noted, the Japanese game studio also used it for "Kingdom Hearts III."
So far, "Final Fantasy XV" is the only game to utilize version 2.0 of the Luminous Engine with "Episode Duscae" using version 1.5, Tech Times reported.
"It might not sound like much, but moving a game from one engine to another is no easy feat - it's not something a studio would do without a reason."
Square Enix has yet to make an official explanation on the matter. Tech Times did speculate that the "FFVII" remake development team could simply be not "far enough along the development [of the game] to confirm which tech they'll be using."
Along with a change in game engine, director Tetsuya Nomura said the "FFVII" remake won't simply be the original game with better graphics. It will have an overhauled battle system and be more "realistic."
Announced at E3 2015, the "Final Fantasy 7" remake is currently in development and isn't expected to launch anytime soon. It will be available for the PlayStation 4 first then the Xbox One consoles thereafter.
