"The last update I had on it is that the game is still on ice. As far as I've heard there's been no new movement with it."
That's NateTheHate, one of the more consistently accurate voices in gaming leak circles, speaking on his podcast about the long-rumored Final Fantasy IX remake. For fans who've been quietly hoping Square Enix would follow up the FF7 Remake trilogy with a revival of the PS1 classic set in the world of Gaia, it's a gut punch wrapped in careful wording.
How a rumor became a years-long wait
The Final Fantasy IX remake first surfaced in the infamous Nvidia GeForce leak, a data dump that turned out to be almost prophetically accurate. That list included Resident Evil 4 Remake, Dragon's Dogma 2, a Chrono Cross remaster, Kingdom Hearts 4, and a Final Fantasy Tactics revival, all of which have since been officially announced or released. The FF9 remake was sitting right there alongside them, which gave fans reasonable cause to believe it was real.
Here's the thing: nearly every other title from that leak has now surfaced in some official capacity. The FF9 remake is the notable holdout, and NateTheHate's comments suggest it may stay that way for the foreseeable future.
What "on ice" actually means at Square Enix
NateTheHate was careful not to declare the project dead. "'On ice' with Square Enix could mean they may return to it one day," he said, adding that he hopes "Square Enix returns to it and we may see a Final Fantasy 9 remake come to light." That's a meaningful distinction. Projects get shelved and revived at major publishers all the time, and Square Enix in particular has a habit of quietly continuing work on things long after the public stops hearing about them.
Still, "no new movement" is not the same as "in active development." For a project that was already rumored to exist years ago, the silence is telling.
danger
NateTheHate's track record is strong in the Nintendo space, where he accurately predicted multiple Direct announcements and the Switch 2 reveal timing. His reach into Square Enix's internal pipeline is less established, so treat this report as credible but not confirmed.
Square Enix isn't ignoring FF9 entirely
The lack of remake news doesn't mean Square Enix has forgotten about Final Fantasy IX altogether. The publisher has been keeping the IP warm in other ways: a picture book prequel exploring Vivi's backstory, new merchandise, and an animated TV series that, according to a recent Square Enix update, is actually back in production after years of radio silence.
That activity suggests the IP is still considered valuable, which makes the remake's frozen status more puzzling than alarming. The key here is that maintaining an IP through side projects and a streaming series is a very different commitment from greenlighting a full-scale remake, especially given how resource-intensive the FF7 Remake trilogy has been.
Gaia's Mist Continent overworld
Where this leaves the FF remake pipeline
Square Enix is clearly not done with remakes. Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles was announced, the FF7 Remake trilogy is heading toward its conclusion with Part 3 reportedly already in a playable state, and the publisher just earned its first-ever top publisher crown on Metacritic off the back of its 2025 slate. The machine is running.
But bandwidth matters. Completing the FF7 Remake trilogy is the obvious priority, and launching a second major remake simultaneously would stretch the studio thin. A post-trilogy window, sometime after FF7 Remake Part 3 ships, is probably the most realistic scenario for an FF9 revival to get serious traction again, if it ever does.
For now, Zidane, Vivi, and the rest of the Final Fantasy IX cast remain in stasis. Keep an eye on the latest gaming news for any movement, because if that Nvidia leak's track record holds, this one isn't gone forever. Make sure to check out more:
