Summary
The history of video game remakes actually goes much further back than many might realize. In the earliest days of gaming, many games had to essentially be remade from the ground up to be ported to another platform, with this beginning all the way back in the mid-1970s. The general notion ofa video game remakehas changed quite a bit since then, however, as it now has a strong link to nostalgia, with games likeFinal Fantasy 7 RebirthandPersona 3 Reloadtaking decades-old titles and making them anew for the modern age.
Video game remakes have only continued to grow more popular over the last decade or so thanks to incredible titles likeResident Evil 2 Remake,Demon’s Souls, andBlack Mesa, all of which take the essence of what made the original titles so beloved, and reforge them into a completely modern product.Persona 3 Reloadis just the latest in this long line of recent remakes, and in just a few weeks,Final Fantasy 7 Rebirthwill be joining it. And if both continue to be as successful as fans expect, they could end up kickstarting a new marketing trend for the gaming industry.
Final Fantasy 7 and Persona May Start a New Gaming Industry Trend
Final Fantasy 7 and Persona’s Titles Might Begin a New Naming Convention for Remakes
The vast majority of the time, a video game remake is either simply given the name of its original counterpart followed by its new release year in parentheses, or by the phrase “remake.” ButFinal Fantasy 7andPersonamay be about to start a new trend. While the first part ofFinal Fantasy 7’s modern-day iteration was simply titledFinal Fantasy 7 Remake, its upcoming sequel is titledFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirth, and last year’sremake of the PSP prequel is titledCrisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion, with the entire remake series using a phrase beginning with “R.“Personahas just done a similar thing, with the remake ofPersona 3using the title “Reload.”
Being some of the biggest games of 2024, there are a lot of eyes onFinal Fantasy 7 RebirthandPersona 3 Reload, and with such evocative titles, it seems like a real possibility that the wider gaming industry will link the two together, and in turn, link the two names. From there, it seems like another real possibility thatRebirthandReloadcould start a new marketing pattern where phrases beginning with “R” are used widely to signify a remake.
Final Fantasy 7andPersonaare far from the only big franchises to use “R” phrases to signify a remake, with theSpyroremake trilogyusing the phrase “Reignited,” for example, but having two high-profile remakes release in such close proximity to one another is bound to get the gears turning in some publishers' heads, and it could quickly become a very effective marketing strategy if enough games conform to the new pattern. It could very easily be the case that in just a few years, the general gaming public can instantly understand that a game is a remake just because its title is followed by an “R” phrase.
While this might seem like a bit of a cheap marketing gimmick at first, this could actually give developers an even greater level of freedom over the name of their remake. Rather than simply slapping the word remake at the end of the title or just keeping its name the same as its original counterpart, developers could choose an “R” phrase that actually ties in with the game’s mechanics or themes.
For instance, without spoiling too much,Final Fantasy 7 Remake’s title is actually a little more complex than fans first thought. While the game is a remake of the original’s Midgar section, the story also sees players literally remaketheFinal Fantasy 7timeline, andFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s name is a reference to the new, “rebirthed” version of the timeline.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
WHERE TO PLAY
Discover a vibrant and vast world in this standalone entry in the Final Fantasy VII remake project. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is the second entry in the Final Fantasy VII remake project, which retells the story of the genre-redefining RPG across three distinct games. Iconic heroes Cloud, Barret, Tifa, Aerith and Red XIII have escaped from the dystopian city Midgar and are now in pursuit of Sephiroth, the vengeful swordsman from Cloud’s past who was thought to be dead. This new adventure can be enjoyed by all players, even those who have yet to play Final Fantasy VII Remake or the PlayStation original. Expect a new standard of cinematic storytelling, fast-paced combat and rich exploration across a vast world.
