Nomura has shared more details today about the Final Fantasy VII remake, which was announced at the Sony E3 press conference.

Interview by Dengeki translated by Siliconera.

Nomura: I can’t share too much for now, but it won’t be a simple remake. If we were to simply just make the graphics look pretty for the new generation consoles, I don’t think it could surpass the original version. If that’s what you wanted, I think it’d be enough to just play the original International version on PlayStation 4, and it would be satisfying enough. We’ve yet to show any screenshots from the game, but it has vastly evolved, so please look forward to it.

Nomura on the possibility of more story.

Nomura: Again, this time, since the story is being handled by Nojima, that also means that there will be more work added to it, so please look forward to that as well.”

More info in Winter

Nomura: We plan on delivering more information around sometime this winter. At the very least, I believe that we will announce the official title, but we’re currently thinking about how much other information we’ll reveal, too. I understand that many of you are waiting with great expectations, but we were finally able to announce it. It will be a little while longer until we can reveal more information, but we’re working hard to be able to meet your expectations. Please look forward to the next announcements.

Nomura on the remake and original being the exact same game. (Interview by Gamespot)

Nomura: We’ve announced an HD port version on the PlayStation 4, and then we have the remake coming to PS4. You’ll have this extremely, very, very pretty FFVII existing on the same plane. We feel that if that happens, it’s like, why have the same exact game?
We think that if a game is on a certain platform and that platform becomes obsolete, then we’d recommend playing the new port version.

Eurogamer also got to speak to Nomura about the remake.

Nomura: The talks about making this remake, internally it’s been mentioned on and off, sometimes we think we can do it, and then sometimes we think maybe we can’t. Considering some of the original staff, like Kitase, he’s acting as producer, and Kazushige Nojima, he’s doing the script – we’re all getting older! If we keep going like this, the thought occurred to us that we might have to pass this on to a younger generation, without the original developers taking part. It doesn’t seem like such a grand intention, but we wanted to do it with the original members.

Nomura was asked why it took this long to happen and especially why it came now after the PS4 PC port announcement months ago?

Nomura: When we announced the HD port, the PC port on the PS4, we weren’t sure when we wanted to announce the remake. The production was underway then, so there’s no real connection between the timing of the two FF7s coming to PS4. We’ve announced several different titles coming to the PlayStation 4 like World of Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts 3. The slow uptake of new consoles in Japan seems to be a concern, and Square Enix is making a concerted effort to make sure the PlayStation 4 is more attractive to the audience in its home country. “There’s more and more titles being introduced for the platform, and we’re hoping that announcing the remake of Final Fantasy 7, it’ll give a boost to people wanting to buy this current generation of console. If we announced the remake after all those titles have been sold, it wouldn’t have created such an impact, so that’s why we decided on this timing. We wanted to reassure players that PlayStation 4 is coming out with great titles including Final Fantasy 7. That’s why we decided to announce the remake.