Naoki Hamaguchi, director of the Final Fantasy 7 remake trilogy, says he's surprised by how fans reacted to the news that the trilogy finale would be developed using Unreal Engine 4, rather than the more recent Unreal Engine 5.
In an interview with Automaton, Hamaguchi explains he was unaware that people were so invested in the team's choice of engine for the Final Fantasy 7 Finale. "After I mentioned in another interview that we would continue using Unreal Engine 4 for the third game, it became quite the topic online, and it made me realize anew how much interest people have in that side of things," he says.
The director, who has worked on the series since Final Fantasy 12, admits that Unreal Engine 5 does have distinct advantages over its predecessor. "What makes Unreal Engine 5 groundbreaking compared to Unreal Engine 4 are two features: Lumen, its lighting system, and Nanite, which allows you to portray dense graphical detail." Hamaguchi says. "These represent the current trend in graphics pipelines, and of course, such pipelines are important to us as well."
Given that the most recent engine was "just entering its pre-launch phase" as Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth began development, it was decided the team would stick with Unreal Engine 4 for the second entry in the remake trilogy. Hamaguchi and his team then decided to continue using it for the final entry, as they had already developed a "well-established pipeline" and could "further refine things based on the experience we accumulated with FF7 Rebirth."
Fans were surprised by the choice to carry on with the older engine, but luckily, not disappointed. "I never imagined it would become such a hot topic," Hamaguchi explains. "Though a lot of people took it quite positively too." He goes on to say that the final entry will continue to delight, promising to "deliver something even better."
