Why did the director of Final Fantasy almost reject his dream job?

Picturegroup Two men wearing black suits and white, open-collared shirts pose for a photo in front of a Game Awards billboard. The young man on the left has dark hair and wears glasses, while the older man on the right has a short and neatly cropped style. — Naoki Hamaguchi (right), pictured with producer Yoshinori Kitase, accepting the game award for Best Score and Music

When Naoki Hamaguchi found out he got his dream job of directing the remake of his favorite game, Final Fantasy VII, he almost didn’t accept it.

“I realized this was going to be 10 years of my life as a game developer and I was a little nervous,” he told BBC Newsbeat.

As video games have become more advanced, the time – and budget – required to create them has increased.

For the people in charge of those projects, it may mean devoting a large part of your life, career, and identity to them.

And there are few projects on the scale of the new Final Fantasy VII series.

A trilogy of games that remake a beloved 1997 classic with updated visuals, full voice-acting, and abundant side content, it’s a massive undertaking.

So far, it’s been good. The first two games, subtitled Remake and Rebirth, were released to excellent reviews. Both were nominated for several awards,

Mr. Hamaguchi recently accepted the Game Award for Best Score and Music at the industry’s largest event in Los Angeles.

Newsbeat spoke to him at the Golden Joysticks in London, where Rebirth picks up awards for best soundtrack, best story and performances.

The initial announcement of developer Square Enix’s intention to split the project into three parts was met with some skepticism – the original game could be completed in approximately 40 hours.

So does Mr. Hamaguchi think he has proved the doubters wrong?

“I hope we have convinced them,” he says.

“With the original being so famous, a lot of people have their own vision of what Final Fantasy VII is. It’s very difficult to please every single fan out there.”

The original Final Fantasy 7 featured 3D characters on 2D background scenes

Square Enix screenshot shows two simple, polygonal characters in a train station setting. A dialog box at the top of the screen reads: "Come newcomer, follow me"The characters are rendered in 3D but the background is a static 2D image. — The original Final Fantasy 7 featured 3D characters on 2D background scenes

Despite his concerns about the remake having such an impact on his professional life, he says he is glad he made the move.

“Final Fantasy was one of the big inspirations for me becoming a game creator in the first place,” he says.

“It was my way of giving back to the series.”

But he admits he is hoping to do something different.

“I wanted to step away from that and take on a whole new kind of challenge,” he says.

“I’ve given my all for this.”

Mr. Hamaguchi says that the game development environment was different than when the first game was released, meaning the approach to creating new games is fundamentally different.

Because it takes years to create a blockbuster game for modern machines, he says teams need to think about what the landscape will look like in five to ten years.

For example, emerging markets such as the Middle East and Southeast Asia are “undergoing very rapid economic growth” and creating a new generation of gamers.

“It’s really interesting to see so many young people getting involved in gaming in these areas,” he says.

Final Fantasy 7 remake brings the game up to modern graphical standards

Square Enix A computer-generated image shows a blonde male character with asymmetrical spiky hair looking sad looking into the distance. The hilt of a big sword tied on his back is visible. — Final Fantasy 7 remake brings the game up to modern graphical standards

Unlike making games 20 years ago, developers have to ensure that cultural references work in regions where video games are more popular than they once were.

The games market is also tough.

Square Enix has said that Rebirth – which was released exclusively on PlayStation 5 – did not perform as well as it hoped, and it recently confirmed that a PC version will be coming soon.

People play on more platforms and there is evidence that many gamers stick to “home games” like Fortnite, Roblox or Call of Duty for longer periods of time.

It’s hard to pull them off, but Mr. Hamaguchi says the buzz from award nominations can boost the game.

“In the past, we’d release a game on a console and it would sell very well for the first few weeks,” he says.

An award mention can help a title stand out from the crowd and propel it to the front page of an online storefront.

The history of Final Fantasy VII goes back over 20 years, but does Mr. Hamaguchi have any ideas about where gaming might be in the same amount of time in the future?

“Something along the lines of virtual reality, or maybe like augmented reality, where you can create a digital environment that merges with the real world and people can interact with things in that world,” he says.

“I think it’s a very different feeling when we play games with a standard controller today”.

He also predicts that headsets could become cheap and light enough so that we can enter and interact with games in more immersive ways.

For now, I thought, he would focus on the final part of the new trilogy, and hope to be on the awards stage again.