The Square Enix development team behind Final Fantasy Tactics is “incredibly busy” with work on a new announced project, according to Theatrhythm Final Bar Line producer Ichiro Hazama from indieszero.
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In an interview discussing Theatrhythm Final Bar Line ahead of its February 16 release date, producer Ichiro Hazama and director Masanobu Suzui from indieszero talked about the challenges of incorporating the vast library of material from other Square Enix titles into Theatrhythm. Hazama has also previously worked on Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia, which features characters from Final Fantasy games in a similar fashion to Theatrhythm.
At one point in the interview, Hazama was asked about the absence of many iconic Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy XIV characters in Opera Omnia. He explained that both the Opera Omnia and Theatrhythm teams consult the relevant game’s creators before incorporating its characters, and that the Final Fantasy Tactics team’s preoccupation with a new project currently prevents such cooperation.
Regarding FINAL FANTASY TACTICS characters and why most of them are not in the game yet, it is essentially similar to what we do with Theatrhythm. This is a title coming with the whole series, involving characters and stories for every single one of them. What we really don’t want to do with these kinds of games like Opera Omnia and Theatrhythm is just to do Final Fantasy how we think it is, how we think it should be. We have to check with the staff who are responsible for each of the individual titles. […]
We have to talk about the characters, what kind of abilities they should have, how they should behave in the game, how they should be portrayed, this kind of performance. We need to check all that, we just don’t want to do it ourselves.
The Tactics team is incredibly busy at the moment, they have other things to do. They are heavily involved in another project at the moment so we just don’t have time to talk to them. I think that’s probably why more TACTICS characters haven’t been included in the game, we just need time to find out the details.
While no details have come out so far about said project, a “Final Fantasy Tactics Remaster” entry was spotted in the 2021 GeForce Now leak. As the Tactics Ogre and Chrono Cross remasters mentioned in the same leak have both since materialized, it is quite likely that this particular remaster will be formally announced in due time as well.