Square Enix producer: "The team that handles Final Fantasy Tactics is extremely busy with another project at the moment"

Earlier this month, French Final Fantasy website FFWorld — along with Final Fantasy Ring, Final Fantasy Dream, and Finaland — conducted an interview with Square Enix producer Ichirô Hazama regarding the upcoming launch of Theatrhythm: Final Bar Line.

The interview is lengthy, primarily discussing Theatrhythm, but a response to a particular question gives fans of certain other Final Fantasy games a little bit to chew on.

The interview asked Hazama about character representation in these celebratory franchise games like Theatrhythm: Final Bar Line and Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia, specifically why several characters from Final Fantasy Tactics are absent from those titles. This was Mr. Hazama's response (translated from French).

Both Theatrhythm and Opera Omnia are games that cover the entrie series, including the characters and their stories, but we do not want to create our own interpretation of Final Fantasy. To that end, we go to the people who are responsible for each individual title within the series. For example, if we are discussing Final Fantasy VII, we go to ask Mr. Nomura. If it's related to Final Fantasy Tactics, we will talk with the team that manages Tactics. For each character, we discuss their combat skills and how they are represented with the people who are in charge of each game. 

In truth, the team that handles Final Fantasy Tactics is extremely busy with another project at the moment, and I think that is why there are not more Tactics characters in the game. All that said, I can assure you that [Opera Omnia producer] Mr. Fujiwara is eager to include characters from Tactics.

It seems likely that the 'Tactics Team' refers to the group responsible for titles such as Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age, Dungeon Encounters, and the recently-released Tactics Ogre Reborn, which includes producer Hiroaki Kato.

"Final Fantasy Tactics Remaster" was originally spotted in the 2021 Nvidia GeForce Now leak, and considering the later appearance of other games in the leak such as Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition, it seems more and more likely the Tactics Remaster is real in some form. Square Enix also has made various mysterious trademark filings, such as Emberstoria, which may or may not be related.

In any case, we'll learn what project the Tactics team is busy with, sooner or later.