Opinion: You've seen this one before
Over the years, I have generally scoffed at the notion that there would ever be a remake of Final Fantasy VII, at least once Square notified gamers that it was shelving the PS2 remakes of its PSX entries in the series. Once Square dropped those remakes off its to-do list, I think it was an easy assumption for me, if not for a lot of other RPG enthusiasts (if you want to know what I'm talking about, I invite you to check any correspondence between RPG sites and their readers between the time the kibosh was put on those remakes and now; the vast majority of said interaction bears a clingy, almost desperate need for the arrival of these games, which in most cases is met with derision by the sites in question). Truth be told, if I'd had the opportunity, up until a year ago or so, I'd have been scoffing right along with them.

So what changed my mind? In a word, the DS, PSX, and PSP remakes of Final Fantasies I through VI (V and VI are in the works, most likely). Before these arrived on the scene, Square (later Square Enix)'s attitude towards remakes was bleak at best; Final Fantasy Chronicles and Anthology were both dreck bogged down by hideous load times and ports that literally seemed to have been torn out by their roots from the SNES and plopped unceremoniously in the PSX, with little care given to things like sound quality or how one might get load times in a 16-bit title playing on a 32-bit system down to a reasonable level. Cramming them between half-assed FMV sequences didn't do much to disguise the lack of care, and while gamers still purchased these titles in droves, they didn't really give Square much incentive to at least try and do a little more with their IP.

Enix merging with Square brought about a shift in how things were done. For one, Enix has a fairly lengthy history of re-releasing Dragon Quest titles, which is reasonable when one considers the deification of the series in Japan. This greater respect for tradition, coupled with a very strong presence in homes of PSX and PS2 units, and later the megamillion-selling DS, made for a much more conducive atmosphere for remakes. I and II were upgraded slightly from a WonderSwan Color port and plunked into a PlayStation environment with generally pleasing results, and III and IV followed thereafter on the DS, and it is here that Square Enix showed its newfound affinity for remaking games. The DS remake of Final Fantasy III basically redefined the game for a new generation, and similarly, the redo of IV was evidence of the hard work that had gone into updating a classic in the RPG world.

So what now? Well, Final Fantasy V and VI will likely come down the pipes sometime over the next couple of years, and by then, Square Enix will probably be working on Final Fantasy XIV, and whatever concomitant iterations of that game it chooses to tack on (a la Agito and vs. XIII). The company has, by and large, stuck to its top-selling series over the past few years, and while a slow trickle of titles such as Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon and strong work from tri-Ace has accompanied the Final Fantasies and Dragon Quests, Square Enix has focused on little else in any meaningful way. So once V and VI are out of the way, it can safely be assumed that the next generation of consoles will be drawing near. The Xbox 360 in particular is in its prime right now, and with another year or so will probably be ready to give way to a newer generation console. Similarly, the PS3, plagued by poor sales and a dearth of particularly good games up until recently, will be in the latter stages of its prime years (I would imagine Sony will be forced to stick with the PS3 slightly longer than Microsoft with the 360, if only because of the money the system bled during its first year). This is precisely the same point in the prior generation when this wave of remakes started, so I think the timeline will be just about right to move on to remaking the PlayStation Final Fantasy games.

This isn't to say that any of this will necessarily come to pass, of course. With the massive financial outlay involved in this generation of systems, it is quite possible that all three of the big players will milk the current generation as long as possible, although the Wii will most likely need a successor sooner rather than later due to its graphical limitations, which would throw into doubt the prospect of exploiting a large userbase in the context of a remake that, in the case of Final Fantasy VII, will have massive interest and popularity. Then, too, Square Enix might just decide to return to original IPs rather than the constant reincarnation of old ideas. I wouldn't count on it, though. Video gaming in general seems to be caught in a giant feedback loop, and what is old will inevitably become new again. Thus it is that I would bet for, rather than against, the eventual reappearance of Final Fantasy VII on the scene.