Final Fantasy 7's creator, Hironobu Sakaguchi, recently said he believes the game's success was thanks to PlayStation's technology. Sakaguchi recently took part in a panel at Monaco Anime Game International Conferences 2023 and reflected on how Japanese creators had to adapt to the standards of the west and how that affected the creative process of Final Fantasy 7.
Final Fantasy 7 was released on the PlayStation in 1997. The previous games were pixel animated, but Final Fantasy 7 introduced CG animation. Yusuke Naora, who worked as a designer on Final Fantasy 6 as well, said he needed to relearn drawing, as 3D suddenly required a very different approach compared to 2D. It was considered an enormous undertaking at the time, but the efforts of the developers paid off in the end. Final Fantasy 7 was highly regarded by most critics upon release. In North America, during its release week, it sold over 1.5 million copies and grossed more than most Hollywood blockbusters. The remake of Final Fantasy 7 was released in 2020 and enjoyed a similar success with 3.5 million copies sold in its first 3 days.
Hironobu Sakaguchi said the reason for this level of success in the west was due to the introduction of CG animation to the Final Fantasy series. He reasoned "at the time, people in the West saw pixel art and three-heads-high characters as something for children." Square Enix wanted to expand its market and hoped by changing the animation style the games could achieve recognition in the west. For a long time, the only Japanese gaming brand that was considered a success among western audiences was Nintendo. Sakaguchi added, the fact that the PlayStation had very specific hardware and had Japanese connections helped the developers in mastering it as they could ask for guidance in Japanese. Developers in Japan mostly honed their skills for consoles, which, while the switch from 2D to 3D was more work, still made the transition easier.
In Japan, playing on consoles was more widespread, whereas, in North America and Europe, there was a more prevalent culture of playing on PC. Adapting Final Fantasy 7 to PC seemed like a more difficult task, which is reflected by the reviews of the time. While the PC version of Final Fantasy 7 still received critical acclaim, there was more criticism towards technical faults that kept cropping up.
The love Final Fantasy 7 receives from the fans to this day is a testament to the work Hironobu Sakaguchi and his fellow developer put in to create a true classic.
Final Fantasy 7 was first released on PS1.
Source: My Nintendo News
