Final Fantasy VII Rebirth's game director, Naoki Hamaguchi, has been clear about a few things in 2025: that development on Final Fantasy VII Remake Part 3 is "coming along really well," and that Clair Obsucr: Expedition 33 is an excellent game. It's his pick for Game of the Year, and in an interview with GamesRadar, he's gone a step further to say that he "would love" to make a game at the scope and scale of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.
The comment came up when Hamaguchi was discussing how with triple-A development, there's so much that goes into a game at that scale. "Whatever direction you look at it, whatever element you take, it's a very high quality."
Smaller, double-A games, however, can be more focused in Hamaguchi's view. They have the ability to "pick one aspect of one element and really push that and...take that to a high level."
It's within that vein that Hamaguchi said that he "would love to try and make a game like that [AA], which is really focused on one area, pushing the boat out, and making that one aspect as fun as possible."
Though he's also clear that this isn't exactly realistic with his current role at Square Enix. Fulfilling his desire to make this smaller-scoped game would only work if he "completely ignored the reality of it - the position I have in the company, what they want me to make, the requirements of my position and that kind of thing."
While Hamaguchi is right, that the idea of him spending his time making a much smaller scoped game within Square Enix is not feasible when you account for all the responsibilities he has and the amount of money Square puts into its games, it would be really interesting to see what he and his teammates at Square Enix could come up with if they were given free reign to make a much more focused, double-A style game.
About the author: David has been writing about videogames, technology, and culture since 2020, with a focus on reporting daily news across multiple publications, including GameDaily.Biz, GameSkinny, and PlayStation Universe before joining Wccftech in 2025. David started contributing as Canada/US reporter for Wccftech's gaming section in 2025. Besides being up-to-date on the industry's movements, he loves interviewing developers, reviewing games, and writing intricate essays about the symbolism and layered meanings to be found in rich narratives as he's done for publications like GamesIndustry.Biz, LostInCult, and others. Outside of games he loves movies, music, theatre, his hometown, and his family, though not necessarily in that order.
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