The development team behind Square Enix’s Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy is considering moving over to Unreal Engine 5 for part 3.
During an interview with cgworld.jp, Final Fantasy VII Remake Trilogy Director Naoki Hamaguchi was asked whether the development team at Square Enix is considering upgrading the development environment to Unreal Engine 5 for part 3. In his response, he stated that the team will need to assess the pros and cons of the newer engine, but he does believe it is possible.
However, according to Hamaguchi, what the fan base wants most right now is to deliver the final title in the trilogy in good shape as soon as possible. He said that the development team will objectively consider switching over from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5 based on whether changing the development environment will speed things up, or whether it would be best to keep things as they are and work on the game all at once.
Hamaguchi also talked about the asset streaming system used in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. When it came to the vast open fields seen in the game, it became difficult for the development team to control how many assets needed to be loaded at what time in order to create a scene. Therefore, the programming team build a system so that designers could create maps without having to be conscious of asset loading. Specifically, it automatically adjusts the range to be loaded based on the character’s position. The Final Fantasy VII Remake Trilogy director said that it was very important to introduce this system at an early stage of development. Hamaguchi stated that the development team didn’t use the level streaming and world composition that come standard with Unreal Engine 4.. According to him, the in-house asset streaming system was basically built in the first year of Rebirth’s development.
