Final Fantasy Tactics Director Hopes Remake Proves Tactical RPGs' Commercial Viability

Nearly three decades after a cult classic quietly reshaped what role-playing games could be, Square Enix returns to the kingdom of Ivalice with a remake that asks a familiar question: can a demanding, intricate form of play find its way to a wider world? Director Kazutoyo Maehiro, who helped build the original in 1997, now shepherds its revival — not merely as an act of nostalgia, but as a wager that one game's commercial fate might reopen a genre long beloved by the few and overlooked by the many. The stakes, as he understands them, extend well beyond any single title.