Square Enix is moving the development Final Fantasy VII Remake for PlayStation 4 in-house. The news follows after job listings surfaced for core staff for the game. Naoki Hamaguchi, the main programmer of Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XX and project lead on Mobius Final Fantasy, will be in charge of the development of Final Fantasy VII Remake.
Hamaguchi commented on the recruitment listings during a Mobius Final Fantasy livestream last weekend where he clarifies that development has shifted from cooperation with an external studio, CyberConnect2 is one of the partners, to an internal focus:
"The information is already available online, but I've taken charge on the development side for Final Fantasy VII Remake. As for the whole story, (it's a sensitive topic, but) until now, development was moving forward with external cooperation, but the company has decided to shift to an internal setup, including mass production and quality, because we want to control everything, including quality, on a stable schedule. (I won't be leaving Mobius Final Fantasy.)"
Between the lines, it's hard not to take this as an indication that Square Enix was unhappy with the progress, and that we might have to wait a while still until we get to play the remake.
Thanks, <a href="http://gematsu.com/2017/05/final-fantasy-vii-remake-development-shifts-external-cooperation-internal-focus" target="_blank>Gematsu</a>.