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The director of Final Fantasy 7 Remake has explained why releasing Part 3 on multiple platforms will not reduce the game’s quality or performance.

In an interview with Automaton, director Naoki Hamaguchi responded to concerns from some players. These players worry that developing the third game for Xbox Series S and Switch 2 at the same time as PlayStation could lower the overall quality. They believe the game may be adjusted to run better on weaker systems.

Hamaguchi clearly rejected this idea. He said the decision to make Part 3 multiplatform “will not in any way lower the quality of the third instalment,” and added: “Our development structure simply doesn’t work that way to begin with… I suppose I’ll just have to keep saying it.”

When the interviewer suggested that some players might see this as marketing talk, and that developers would never speak negatively before launch, Hamaguchi said he would “like to take this opportunity” to explain in detail “why there’s no need for concern”.

He then explained how the team develops the game using CPU, GPU, RAM, and storage considerations.

Regarding the Switch 2 version, he said it will be released as a Game-Key Card. This means there is no need to reduce data just to fit on a small cartridge. He also commented on memory: “As for RAM, the Switch 2’s ample memory means there’s little concern there,” he said. “The Xbox Series S does have its limits, but we already optimize for each platform individually to the absolute limit, so memory constraints on one platform don’t impose restrictions on others.”

For CPU performance, Hamaguchi explained the team’s design philosophy. If the game runs at 30 frames per second on Switch 2 or Xbox Series S, it should be able to reach 60 frames per second on more powerful hardware. He said: “In other words, we don’t design the game to fully saturate a high-end CPU at 30fps.”

He added that when stronger hardware has more CPU power available, the team increases certain elements, such as the number of NPCs in towns. This makes towns feel more alive on high-end systems. On lower-spec hardware, there may be fewer NPCs. Because of this approach, CPU limitations on weaker systems should not create major problems.

When talking about GPU and graphics quality, Hamaguchi said: “As our fundamental principle, we do not design assets to meet the lowest baseline. Instead, we create them for high-end environments first.”

The team develops the game first on a high-end PC. After that, they adjust and scale it down for lower-spec systems.

According to Hamaguchi, even PS5 and PS5 Pro are considered “mid-range platforms” by the studio. He explained: “Compared to high-end PCs, texture sizes may differ by roughly 1.5 to 2 times, mesh loading by 1.5 to 2 times, and polygon counts by more than three times. That’s how big the difference can be.
“Conversely, among currently supported systems, the one adjusted toward lower specifications is the Steam Deck, since it operates at less than half the PS5’s baseline. Therefore, I’d like to once again say that supporting multiple platforms does not impact overall quality.”

Last month, Hamaguchi also explained why the team decided to continue using Unreal Engine 4 for Part 3 instead of moving to Unreal Engine 5. The development team has already made many custom changes to Unreal Engine 4 over the years. Because of this, staying with the same engine makes development smoother and more efficient.

“We’ve been using Unreal Engine 4, but we’ve made a lot of modifications to fit our needs,” Hamaguchi explained. “It’s more beneficial to have something we’re already familiar with and have customized to fit our needs.”

Through this detailed explanation, Hamaguchi wants players to understand that developing Part 3 for multiple platforms does not mean lowering the game’s technical quality. Instead, the team builds the game for high-end hardware first and then carefully optimizes it for other systems. 

Read more at: https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/final-fantasy-7-remake-director-explains-why-part-3-being-multiformat-wont-compromise-performance/