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No, Naoki Yoshida and the Final Fantasy 14 gang aren't working on the long-rumored Final Fantasy 9 remake, and even if he was, he wouldn't change the turn-based battle system.
The long-gestating rumors of an alleged Final Fantasy 9 remake have been doing the rounds once again over the past few days. In the latest Letter From the Producer live showcase, just below, Final Fantasy 14 director Naoki Yoshida has addressed the rumors of the Final Fantasy 9 remake head-on, flatly denying that he's involved with the project, or any knowledge of the remake at all.
So no, this isn't confirmation that Final Fantasy 9's long-rumored remake is actually in development. Yoshida's statement wasn't unprompted - the director says he's been seeing people arguing about a potential Final Fantasy 9 remake and saying that they wouldn't want him to personally develop the project since they believed he would take the classic Square Enix game and turn it into a real-time action game.
Yoshida says he isn't working on the project, and even if he was, he wouldn't change the combat to real-time action. "If we were remaking FF9 people would complain we'd turn it into an action game! But I'd make it turn-based," Yoshida says in the testing stages of the Letter From the Producer Live broadcast just above.
The Final Fantasy 9 director adds that he reckons he knows where the speculation has originated from. Earlier this month, it was reported that while on the Dawntrail media tour, Yoshida told an outlet that Square Enix was working on multiple unannounced games, including two that would be revealed "soon." Yoshida thinks people have assumed one of these games to be the Final Fantasy 9 remake - that, and several links between the MMO's next expansion, Dawntrail, and Final Fantasy 9.
Recent comments from the publisher's CEO have said Square Enix will "shift from quantity to quality" and pursue a new "multi-platform strategy." If there is a Final Fantasy 9 remake in development, maybe it won't be a PS5 exclusive like Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.
Read up on our new games 2024 guide for a look at all the games that Square Enix definitely does have planned to launch in the coming months.
