Square Enix may have just teased the hotly anticipated FF9 Remake on stage at PAX East 2024.
Final Fantasy IX is expected to be the next game to get the full-on remake treatment from Square Enix, but official details have been slim. The existence of the FF9 Remake was accidentally leaked as part of NVIDIA's gigantic GeForce Now server hiccup from 2021. Things have certainly changed since then--the games industry has shrunken by over 16,000 workers--but it seems possible Square Enix kept FF9R's flame alive.
At PAX, Final Fantasy XIV director Yoshi-P outlined the MMORPG's new Dawntrail expansion, announcing two interesting in-game items that can be had with collector's edition pre-orders. Final Fantasy IX's main characters Zidane and Garnet will soon be included in the MMO as wind-up minions. Gamers quickly speculated that a FF9 Remake announcement could be imminent.
"You may have noticed a lot of Final Fantasy IX references here, but the reason is a secret," Yoshi-P said on stage through a smile as fans cheered.
Nothing has been confirmed so far, and it's possible that Yoshi-P is teasing some sort of legacy cross-over with the original Final Fantasy IX. After all, there is an upcoming FF16 x FF14 cross-over event coming soon.
But the evidence of a potential remake is compelling, especially because the game was listed as part of the famous GeForce Now leak. Square Enix has also doubled-down on focusing on its core franchises and there's two core franchises that are synonymous with the publisher: Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest.
New confirmed projects from Square Enix include Final Fantasy 7's third remake chapter, Kingdom Hearts IV, and Dragon Quest XII