Sakaguchi says he’s not interested in remasters of The Last Story or Blue Dragon

Mistwalker boss would rather be “building something new”

Mistwalker boss Hironobu Sakaguchi has said he’s not interested in releasing remasters of his past games, such as The Last Story, Blue Dragon or Lost Odyssey.

The Final Fantasy creator, who is currently finishing up iOS RPG Fantasian, told VGC in a recent interview that he would rather spend his future years in game development “building something new”.

“To be perfectly honest, there aren’t any plans for any remakes at the moment. Although they’re called remakes, the amount of effort and resources it would command means the difference is basically nil between [developing] a remake versus a completely new game,” he said.

“I would personally find myself more attracted to the idea of coming up with another original story or world, or building something new.”

Mistwalker was formed partly thanks to backing from Xbox, whom it created two exclusive RPGs for; Blue Dragon (2006) and Lost Odyssey (2007). Since 2011’s The Last Story (Wii), the company has focused exclusively on mobile games.

Asked if he would like to work with Xbox again in the future, Sakaguchi said:

“To be perfectly honest with you, I haven’t given much thought to the next steps for the company or where we want to go, and I think I could use a bit of vacation time in between now and whatever it is we do next. So we’ll see what happens, it remains to be seen.”

Elsewhere in our interview, the 58-year-old Mistwalker founder, who has worked on many acclaimed role-playing games such as Chrono Trigger and Kingdom hearts, told VGC he could well retire after Fantasian’s two-part release is completed.

Sakaguchi was addressing previous comments he made about his long-time collaborator Nobuo Uematsu, whom he said had likely completed his final full soundtrack with Fantasian, due to unspecified health issues.

“I think it is certainly possible that this could be my last project,” he told VGC, “and that was kind of in the back of my mind as we were developing it.”

He added: “We’re currently developing the final touches for part 2 of Fantasian and things are finally beginning to calm down, I would say.”

Fantasian is set to release on Apple Arcade and is described as an RPG set against a backdrop made from over 150 handmade dioramas that blend physical environments and 3D characters.