Apparently some people are convinced this is a real thing that will be announced any minute now to celebrate the game’s 25th anniversary. I looked into it and there seem to have been some accidental leaks in the past from Nvidia and the Epic Game Store that have suggested some kind of FF9 project is in the works. Some Industry Insiders™ have also “confirmed” that it exists. There’s also some sort of cartoon set in FF9’s world supposedly being made.
A lot of the things people have touted as evidence of Square Enix working on a remake recently seem to be just tweets or merchandise announcements simply related to the 25th anniversary though.
I haven’t really cared about whatever they’ve been doing with FF7 but I’d be curious to see how they’d handle a FF9 remake. I’m kinda dubious about SE being willing to invest the time and money for a full modern remake though. FF7’s popularity dwarfs 9’s and it still wasn’t enough to make Rebirth sell to SE’s stupidly high expectations. Didn’t FFXVI underperform too?
FFIX is, in my opinion, the best final fantasy game. I don’t trust SE to do anything good with it. I’ve not been happy with most mainline FF game since XII.
If they were to remake it, I don’t want a 1:1 remake with better graphics. I don’t think there’s any purpose in that
I think a new IX would really benefit from fleshing out more of the cast. In particular Freya, eiko, and amarant need some work. I’d even like to see Steiner get some more narrative.
The world of IX is a really defining feature. I’d like it if they could take an approach to it similar to 12 where there are lots of free roam sections or side content that allows you to explore or engage with the world more deeply.
But again, I don’t trust anything good to come from a remake.