Author: Game Infliction

Final Fantasy Remake Part 3 director Naoki Hamaguchi has discussed the impact of expanding the platforms on which the Final Fantasy 7 Remake series is available, insisting that going multiplatform “will not in any way lower the quality of the third instalment.”

In an interview with Automaton, via Eurogamer, Hamaguchi said both the Nintendo Switch 2 and Xbox versions of the game’s prior instalments “have been incredibly well received and generated a lot of buzz online,” but did note some community concerns.

“Both the Nintendo Switch 2 and Xbox versions have been incredibly well received and generated a lot of buzz online,” Hamaguchi said. “That attention has also made me realize how many people are worried about this issue. However, our decision to go multiplatform with the FF7 Remake series will not in any way lower the quality of the third installment.

“Our development structure simply doesn’t work that way to begin with… I suppose I’ll just have to keep saying it,” he said, laughing. He also stressed that because of the growing popularity of gaming on PC both in Japan and beyond, the game has been built with PC “as the foundation.”

“While PC gaming is gradually expanding in Japan, overseas growth has been even more rapid,” Hamaguchi added. “The market has broadened tremendously across both consoles and PC. The FF7 Remake series has sold very well on platforms like Steam and the Epic Games Store, so we develop assets with the broad PC market in mind. In fact, our 3D assets are created at the highest quality level based on PC as the foundation.

“When FFVII Rebirth launched, there was talk about how the PC version looked better than the PS5 version, and our philosophy will not change for the third instalment,” he concluded. “As our fundamental principle, we do not design assets to meet the lowest baseline. Instead, we create them for high-end environments first.”

Last month, Hamaguchi teased that the “core game experience is almost complete,” and while he “really want[s] everyone to play it as soon as possible,” the team has now moved on to “refining and polishing.”

Meanwhile, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth‘s Queen’s Blood card game is making a “powered-up” comeback for the final chapter in Square Enix’s remake trilogy. Hamaguchi said he plans to double down on the card game when its next installment finally launches, promising to “expand” what was seen with its Rebirth launch.

We also recently learned that the Final Fantasy 7 Remake team actually considered resizing Cloud’s iconic Buster Sword to make it more realistic before deciding to stick with the original design, admitting “it was just too iconic” to change.

Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world’s biggest gaming sites and publications. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.

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Rainbow Six Siege is getting Snake from Metal Gear Solid as a new Operator next month — but the game also nearly had a cardboard box item to hide in, too.

Speaking to IGN, Rainbow Six Siege creative director Josh Mills confirmed that the idea had been discussed internally, but ultimately was dismissed pretty quick — and for good reason. Simply put, Siege fans know the game’s maps too well.

While hiding from enemies in a cardboard box might work against NPCs, Siege fans simply remember the game’s levels too intricately to be tricked by a random package lying around.

“Our players already know every inch of every map, and among the team we have a saying, Operator’s eyes don’t lie,” Mills told IGN. “So, if there were suddenly a box in the corner of a room on any given map our players would promptly shoot that box.”

It’s a fair point, though sadly one which does mean we won’t be crouching inside any cardboard in Rainbow Six Siege anytime soon.

Ubisoft first teased its Rainbow Six Siege and Metal Gear Solid crossover last month, when it showed Splinter Cell’s Sam Fisher taking a Codec Call. Full details on Snake — and a look at us playing as him — lie in the video above. And yes, that is indeed David Hayter providing his voice once again.

Snake officially arrives in Siege as part of Season One: Operation Silent Hunt on March 3, which will also see the launch of a Gray Fox skin for Jackal, and a Meryl skin for Ash.

“We’re excited to bring the world of Metal Gear Solid series into Rainbow Six Siege with Season 1’s new Redacted event, a limited-time 4v4 infiltration mode where Snake and Zero lead a team of elite Operators to recover stolen data,” Mills said. “The team also went a step further with ‘Last Assignment’, a new mission for Dual Front designed as a special nod to long-time Metal Gear Solid fans.”

Metal Gear Solid may be one of the wildest crossovers for Rainbow Six Siege so far, but it’s far from the first. Other recent collaborations have brought the Attack on Titan and The Boys universes into the fold with various cosmetics for existing Operators. Splinter Cell didn’t launch with the game when it first launched back in 2015, but Sam Fisher did go on to get his own Operator in the form of Specialist Zero in 2020.

Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social