Square Enix would definitely say no
Hamaguchi mainly compared what, in his opinion, differs between an AA production and a larger, AAA type. The budget, obviously, as well as the human resources, but Hamaguchi also specifies what that means from a creative point of view.
He indicates that due to a lack of resources, AA productions tend to extremely emphasize an element, which the studio in charge of the project will refine to make it exceptional. Where an AAA must push all the cursors on all possible aspects. We could say that he sees Chiaroscuro an exception to this, in that he praised the game as being a particularly successful “whole”, which can only be reduced to a single element (unless he has since changed his mind).
As for whether he would like to start producing an AA game that would focus mainly on one aspect, Hamaguchi answers in the affirmative, but that would amount to “ completely ignore reality » of his position within Square Enixthe latter asking him exclusively to work on large-scale projects. Still, the idea works well:
“ If I have the opportunity to collaborate with some of the creators of these kinds of games, that would be really great. From an industry perspective, I think it’s very positive, and I’m excited to see these AA games coming. »
Who knows, maybe after completing the trilogy Final Fantasy VII Remakeeven if the era of AA at Square Enix seems a little over since the change of direction of the group.