Ben Starr is quickly becoming one of the most famous actors in the video game industry, and despite Final Fantasy 8 being one of his favorite games, he’s confident that the game will not be remade by developer Square Enix and that it doesn’t need to be remade anyway. Starr rose to almost instant fame for his Game Awards-nominated performance as Clive Rosfield in Final Fantasy 16. Since then, he has arguably become one of the most recognizable voices in games, with several Square Enix and other RPG projects under his belt.

Ben Starr Shoots Down The Possibility Of FF8 Remake

One Of The Most Divisive Games In The Series

FF8 remains as one of the polarizing entries in the beloved and long-running series. The game saw a lot of criticism for its divergence from a fantasy setting to an even heavier sci-fi setting than what FF7 had before it. Probably most notably, the game was criticized for its convoluted Junction System, its emphasis on repeatedly “drawing” magic from enemies, and its romance storyline that many found implausible. However, it has developed a cult following since. FF8 is the favorite FF game of a lot of fans, including Starr, so the demand for a remake has been high.

FF8, along with FF7 and FF9, all got remastered fairly recently. With the FF7 Remake project ongoing and the rumors and teases of a FF9 remake in development, however, ideas regarding how remakes of other Final Fantasy titles could be approached have gotten a lot of fans discussing the remake potential for the series. Starr is not a direct representative of Square Enix, despite having worked a lot with the company, so this is simply Starr’s insistence that an FF8 remake is unlikely rather than a hard confirmation that it will never happen.

Our Take: Remakes Are Nice, But New Games Are Better

The Remake Fatigue May Be Setting In

The debate about remakes and remasters being prioritized over new sequels and new IPs has been heating up in recent years. It seems like a new remaster or remake is announced every few weeks nowadays, and despite there being a lot of audience demand and financial success to be found by developers “playing it safe” with remakes and remasters, the lack of new IPs may stagnate the progress of the industry as a whole.

New games are certainly still being made, and some of them are seeing massive success, like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 coming out of virtually nowhere to be the highest-rated game of 2025. But I also echo Starr’s sentiment that new games need to be created to bring about those powerful inspirations and deep passions in 2025 that games like Final Fantasy 8 gave to so many fans back in 1999.