As usual, the vast majority of words and clues sown by representatives of studios and publishers are not worth much and remain vague enough to mean anything and everything. That said, some stand out all the same, starting with Fumito Ueda, whose first project from his genDesign studio would finally be ready for release (or at least to be unveiled) in 2023. Remember that the illustrious creative director of Ico, Shadow of the Colossus and The Last Guardian left Japan Studio in December 2011 and have not released any plans since.
For Fumito Ueda, money is no longer a concern
On the other hand, we know that the first game from his genDesign studio has the privilege of being published by Epic Games Publishing, which notably earned him full funding (including development and marketing costs). “The whole genDesign team is working hard to finally be able to announce something, so we hope to have your support“, commented Fumito Ueda. Previously, Fumito Ueda confirmed that it will be an original creation and not a sequel, which makes sense since Icon, Shadow of the Colossus and The Last Guardian belong to Sony Interactive Entertainment. Like all Epic Games Publishing games, the next Fumito Ueda, on the other hand, is intended for a multiplatform release.
The other teasing which made a little more talk than usual this year comes from Konami. It is true that between the announcement of Suikoden I & II HD Remaster: Gate Rune & Dunan Reunification Wars and a wave of Silent Hill projects, the Japanese publisher has regained some credit with the public who is not expecting now more than similar announcements take place for franchises like Metal Gear and Castlevania. However, the property of teasing, is to be vague enough so that we can see what we want. Thus, when Konami speaks of a year marked by “new games for known series”, everyone is free to imagine that this means a return of Metal Gear and Castlevaniawhile Konami may only be referring to Powerful Pro Baseball and other Momotaro Dentetsu (remember that Konami is addressing Japanese readers of Famitsu and 4Gamer here).
Atlus is also staying as vague as possible when discussing “several unannounced titleswhich will come after the cross-platform releases of Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden in January. news of Project Re Fantasy, a new license from the creators of Persona announced in 2016, but Katsura Hashino and his team were absent from the round table, unlike the two previous years.
We’re still going to talk about Final Fantasy
At Square Enix, Yoshinori Kitase, on the other hand, allowed himself to tickle Final Fantasy lovers. Not content with entering the home stretch of Final Fantasy 16 development for June 22 and keeping Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth warm for the end of the year, the Final Fantasy franchise director reveals that an announcement important will take place this year and that this one does not concern the FF7 clan. Could it be the remake of Final Fantasy 9 or the return of Final Fantasy Tactics, which we believe to know of the existence thanks to the famous leaked from NVIDIA? Remember in any case that the latter has already proven its authenticity with the announcement of games like Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamer Edition, Kingdom Hearts 4 and Tactics Ogre: Reborn, to name only the titles of Square Enix.