It’s no secret that Square Enix has been getting swamped by requests from fans clamoring for a full-blown HD remake of PSOne classic Final Fantasy VII. Not one to quell speculation, producer Yoshinori Kitase himself has expressed interest in developing a remake in the past. Clearly the company wants to do it, so why not make fans happy and commit to it right now?

Speaking in a roundtable discussion with journalists at a press event for Final Fantasy XIII in Korea, Kitase noted that a remake of VII for HD consoles would be a massive undertaking. We’re talking an upwards of 30 years of development time, according to an estimate conjured up by none other than Kitase:

We’ve gotten this question a lot from many countries (laughs). To make FFXIII at this level of quality, it took us 3 to 4 years. If we were to make FFVII in the same style of FFXIII, it would take 10 times as long, so it would be difficult to take it up immediately. However, we always keep in mind how often this is requested.

While it may be a gross overestimation, doing the math, a development cycle ten times as long as FFXIII equates to around 30-40 years. Seems impossibly ridiculous but we’ll still be waiting for it, grey hairs be damned.

Thanks, Andriasang.

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