Before Final Fantasy 7 blew up globally, a lot of Square Enix leadership thought there wasn’t “real money” in English translations, and the localization team had to beg them for overseas releases

Final Fantasy 7 is widely considered one of the best JRPGs of all time for many reasons: its beautifully written and timeless story, its three-dimensional characters, its engaging gameplay, to name a few. But one other reason you might not know about is that it’s largely responsible for Square Enix’s embrace of the Western market following Final Fantasy 7’s global success.

Richard Honeywood, a legend in the localization field and former employee of Square, explained to Time Extension in a new interview how difficult it was to persuade top brass at Square to let the company’s localization team bring more games to the West… until Final Fantasy 7 “sold like hot cakes” and changed everything.