In an interview with GameRevolution, Hajime Tabata, the director of Final Fantasy XV, Final Fantasy Type-0, Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- and Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII was asked point blank if he'd take over directorial duties on Final Fantasy VII Remake if he was asked to.
To his credit, he admitted he couldn't.
It's surprising to see something like this openly discussed but the subject isn't hard to believe. Hajime Tabata replaced Tetsuya Nomura as director on Final Fantasy XV in December 2013 after years of development issues going back to when it was another game called Final Fantasy Versus XIII.
In addition, Final Fantasy VII Remake is looking like Versus XIII with the early announcement, director Tetsuya Nomura making co-developer CyberConnect2 change things and development focus shifted to internal at Business Division 1 where the team also makes Mobius Final Fantasy with many staff working on both. It has also been almost 2 years since the last major update about the game at PlayStation Experience 2015.
Personally, I've always felt Nomura should serve as creative producer on Final Fantasy VII Remake instead of as director but this isn't the place for that.
You can see what they said below.
GameRevolution: Would you take over the Final Fantasy VII Remake if [Square Enix] offered that one to you?
Hajime Tabata: No.
GR: No, you wouldn't!?
Tabata: No I wouldn't.
GR: Can I ask why?
Tabata: It's something I couldn't make, myself. That's about it.
GR: Would that be a lot of pressure?
Tabata: Final Fantasy VII is a special game.
GR: It's the big one.
Tabata: It's such a special numbered game that I don't think I can remake that one. There's so many fans out there, if I were asked to satisfy all those fans, I don't think that's something I could do, 100%. If [Square Enix] asked me to make a new Final Fantasy and take it in a new direction, I'd be happy to accept that one, but if they asked me to remake Final Fantasy VII — to release as if it were a modern game, just released today -- no, I don't think that's something I can do. I think the only people who could do that are Mr. (Yoshinori) Kitase and Mr. (Tetsuya) Nomura.
GR: And you say that even though you did such a good job with Crisis Core?
Tabata: Well that wasn't VII itself.
GR: A spinoff... a prequel.
Tabata: Yeah, it wasn't the main game. Now, if they asked me to do Final Fantasy VII-2, that might be different.
GR: Which brings us back to your new project!
*Laughter in the room*
Tabata: We haven't got that planned!
Tabata's new project is a new IP and his team at Business Division 2 are still working on updates, DLC and additional titles for Final Fantasy XV and will do so for another year.