I have said it before and I will keep saying it. S-E do not want to remake FF7 because it would be either damage the reputation massively or require basically creating two games.
See as it is S-E get HUGE amounts of goodwill about FF7. It got amazing reviews, sold incredibly well, is fondly remembered etc etc. That one entry has basically become it's own separate franchise with movies, games etc spinning off from it. They can make successful games, movies, books etc just trading off that name and reputation. Also given the troubles S-E is having with fans attitudes towards it they like the fact there is this pristine example of everything going right.
Now of course a FF7 remake would sell VERY well. However here is where the problem lies; They cannot simply remake the game without either getting bad reviews and thus tarnishing the name or pissing off fans and thus tarnishing the name.
The reason being there are two options with a remake. Just a graphical overhaul or a proper remake that modernizes the game.
If they do the first (simply a graphical overhaul) then the game is going to get pretty bad review scores (certainly no where near the 92% on GR and Metacritic). As the game is outdated, the story development doesn't hold up too well, no voice acting, cut-scenes direction is very stilted, random encounter rate is RIDICULOUSLY high, battle system is very outdated etc etc. Everything that reviewers hate about Jrpgs basically, even jrpgs that have slightly modernized some of these things struggle with reviews. Basically with a simple graphical update fans of the original will love it but new gamers and the press will hate it. They do not want this perfect game suddenly getting a bad reputation.
So the other option is a proper remake. Add voice acting (actors already chosen from the movie etc), update the battle system, remove random encounters,re-direct cutscenes etc etc. Now this version would likely get fantastic reviews and new players would love it. However the fans of the original would detest it, the amount of complaints about how long they waited to get a remake and what they got would be sooooo high. So again this is going to damage the reputation and take away a lot of good will.
The only win-win option is to effectively remake the game twice over and let people choose which version they want. This would be so astronomically expensive it isn't worth considering. In the short term a remake that chose either just to change graphics or the fundamental game could prove very profitable. The worry would be the long term effects and damage to the FF7 name.
