In an apparent bid to quell fans' endless requests for a remake of Final Fantasy VII, Square Enix has set one condition that must be fulfilled before they'll even consider bringing back the beloved game.

In a widely reported response to the standard remake question at the company's shareholder meeting yesterday, studio chief executive Yoichi Wada said that the iconic entry in the franchise will not be remade until a new Final Fantasy game ‘exceeds the quality' of FFVII.

To my mind, they haven't come close since Final Fantasy X, which means we could be waiting for a good few years.

These thoughts from Wada echo the recent statements from Tetsuya Nomura, character designer and visual director of FFVII.

Nomura says the current upcoming titles need to keep making advances before the company decides to refresh their back catalogue, summing his thoughts up by saying ‘the new Final Fantasy must overcome the Final Fantasy of the past'.

The general consensus is that releasing a remake of the ground-breaking RPG before it has a decent successor would kill off the franchise for good, according to Wada's statement.

Seeing as this is one of the most longed-for remakes ever, this is actually a wise move; if we all got a massive dose of re-mastered, re-vamped and re-awesomed classic gaming, we might go off the later instalments. That doesn't make the wait any more bearable, however.

In the meantime, the Final Fantasy X HD remake is currently in development, but the release date for that has yet to be announced. Square Enix is lucky they're good at what they do; they certainly know how to make us wait.