When are we expecting news?

[Master Exin]

You know what? I don't care anymore... I hope they DON'T share any news any time soon!! Boring ass game!!

Chill dude

 

[NoWay]

I really don’t understand why they don’t bother to milk the franchise on consoles. I mean, I’d totally buy another collection for the PS5 including KH3+ReMind and MoM.
Imagine remastering the collections like Crisis Core. I’d be totally down for that.

And what about the Nvidia leak and the supposed UX console remake?

 

[gulava]

Which they would just liquidate.

i hope not??? because some of these IPs have a massive fan following, so i can never see square letting them go.
besides, monopolies are always bad, regardless of who is doing it. (and square is more than just ff/kh and acquiring a company for only their big IPs, will do more harm than good)

 

[Elysium]

Yeah, I would not want Square Enix to become a part of some other company.

Well, no, that's not completely true, I guess. I suppose the exception for me is I think it would be neat if they were somehow bought by Disney in the future (if Disney were in a better situation in future, I mean). I know Disney has tried several times to carve out a bigger hold in the video gaming business in the past, I think they made a big push one time with Disney Infinity or whatever it was, but they gave up eventually. Buying Square would give them a quality video game company and a well-known brand name to do something like that with. Ideally they would own it "from a distance," as far as not interfering in things too much as long as Kingdom Hearts keeps being successful, and not harm the FF series.

 

[Darkspawn]

With FFXIV just announcing it’s next expansion in Summer 2024, the next releases should hopefully be KHIV and DQXII. They’ve been picking up steam with this pipeline of major releases about every six months:

Late 21: FFXIV Endwalker
Spring 22: Strangers of Paradise
Early 23: Forspoken
Summer 23: FFXVI
Early 24: FFVII Rebirth
Summer 24: FFXIV Dawntrail
Late 24/Early 25: KHIV?
Summer 25: DQXII?

Of course we don’t live in a perfect world, but I hope this is what they’re aiming for.

 

[Darkspawn]

The State of Play has come and gone with no mention of KH4. Seems like Rebirth and Ever Crisis will be the focus for a while yet. However, there’s still a chance they could shadow drop another video directly from their socials.

They likely want to give us updates on both KH4 and Missing Link at the same time. With ML being a mobile game, it won’t show up at one of the console-specific showcases. So doing their own news drop is probably the most likely. Sadly it is also the least predictable for when it’ll happen. Maybe sometime next week prior to TGS kicking off. If it doesn’t happen before then, I think we’ll have to wait a while yet.

 

[bambii (aka foreteller)]

Yeah my guess at this point is that Rebirth and KH4 are both far too important as flagship titles to keep the company afloat (I'm sure you've all seen the recent headlines) to muddle/overlap their marketing too much. They're gonna focus on one at a time. And as Luminary said, Missing-Link will be part of the marketing campaign for KH4, similar to Ever Crisis and Rebirth. But I do think KH4 is next in the pipeline after Rebirth. Absolute earliest I would expect news is Jump Festa, more likely around the time of Rebirth's release. KH anniversary in March would be a good bet for a KH4 re-reveal.

 

[Liodin]

Since Geoff Keighley got the trailers for FF EC and Rebirth, both at the same event, it's possible we'll see KH at The Game Awards.

If not in February there is usually a State of Play, so if they plan to do the same thing they did with Rebirth and FF16 and release a trailer a little before the release of Rebirth, that's the event we need to keep an eye out for.

 

[Squood!]

Yeah my guess at this point is that Rebirth and KH4 are both far too important as flagship titles to keep the company afloat (I'm sure you've all seen the recent headlines) to muddle/overlap their marketing too much. They're gonna focus on one at a time. And as Luminary said, Missing-Link will be part of the marketing campaign for KH4, similar to Ever Crisis and Rebirth. But I do think KH4 is next in the pipeline after Rebirth. Absolute earliest I would expect news is Jump Festa, more likely around the time of Rebirth's release. KH anniversary in March would be a good bet for a KH4 re-reveal.

What's next, the absolute earliest we can expect news is June of next year?

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

What's next, the absolute earliest we can expect news is June of next year?

I mean, it might seem like goal-moving but it really is the best bet given the current release window for Rebirth and also knowing SE cannot market two flagship titles at the same time. Between their literal inability to do so because they suck at it, they also can’t afford to make any missteps so their best tactic is to make each game have their own windows. Rebirth didn’t ramp up again until XVI was closer to releasing and we only just got this massive marketing push only after the dust settled with XVI.

So March is looking like the prime window.

 

[Squood!]

I mean, it might seem like goal-moving but it really is the best bet given the current release window for Rebirth and also knowing SE cannot market two flagship titles at the same time. Between their literal inability to do so because they suck at it, they also can’t afford to make any missteps so their best tactic is to make each game have their own windows. Rebirth didn’t ramp up again until XVI was closer to releasing and we only just got this massive marketing push only after the dust settled with XVI.

So March is looking like the prime window.

Oh....

...they really shouldn't have revealed KH4 early.

I'm already dealing with how KH4's supposed development start date was based off a misunderstanding from that Q&A in 2020.

 

[Disney Adventurer]

Yeah, I don't think we're getting anything until after FF is outta the way unless someone asks Square about KH in one of the hype interviews leading up to launch day.

If KH IV gets marketed next year, I could see showing up at D23 2024, but we'll see.

 

[Squood!]

Yeah, I don't think we're getting anything until after FF is outta the way unless someone asks Square about KH in one of the hype interviews leading up to launch day.

If KH IV gets marketed next year, I could see showing up at D23 2024, but we'll see.

Someone asking about KH in an FF hype interview is about as likely as someone asking about Kairi in any KH interview.

 

[Darkspawn]

What's next, the absolute earliest we can expect news is June of next year?

Honestly it isn’t completely unrealistic to think that. Only because FFXIV Dawntrail is releasing around that time. There is a possibility they’ll shift all their marketing attention to that after Rebirth rather than KH4. This is fairly unlikely though as FFXIV usually does its own thing when it comes to marketing. There will also be FFXVI DLC that may get more attention. But I think they’ll want to show their shareholders a new AAA title to be released in fiscal year 24-25.

Game Awards is possible, but I think Rebirth is going to be getting a lot of focus there. I agree that the anniversary is a good realistic bet. It would be a good time release Missing Link too when people are getting outside more in the spring.

My hope is they do a re-reveal by April. Then they can have steady marketing for 6-9 months with news at Summer Games Fest, D23, etc. Then a release between fall ‘24 and early 25 at the latest.

Also, people say this is the worst news drought we’ve had, but KH3 went two full years from 2015-17 without a new trailer. We just had other things to tide us over. And I’m glad they’re at least waiting until much closer to an attainable release window. It was painful getting all those KH3 trailers over five years with no idea how far off it actually was.

Someone asking about KH in an FF hype interview is about as likely as someone asking about Kairi in any KH interview.

This used to happen fairly often. It seems now the interview questions are more curated by the people being interviewed.

 

[Launchpad]

Also, people say this is the worst news drought we’ve had, but KH3 went two full years from 2015-17 without a new trailer. We just had other things to tide us over. And I’m glad they’re at least waiting until much closer to an attainable release window. It was painful getting all those KH3 trailers over five years with no idea how far off it actually was.

At risk of being overly granular on this point, we got a KH3 trailer around New Years in 2015, five months after E3. KH3 itself wouldn't be seen again until E3 2017, a year and six months later. It's been a year and FIVE months since KH4 was announced, and we're well on our way to blasting past the previous record.

 

[Darkspawn]

At risk of being overly granular on this point, we got a KH3 trailer around New Years in 2015, five months after E3. KH3 itself wouldn't be seen again until E3 2017, a year and six months later. It's been a year and FIVE months since KH4 was announced, and we're well on our way to blasting past the previous record.

Oh you are right. I was thinking of the E3/D23 2015 announcements of Tangled and BH6. I forgot about the Jump Festa trailer. (In my defense, the KH YouTube channel has it slotted under the 2.8 trailers as it was part of one of those. So I missed it when I was checking before.)

So yeah we are a lot closer to the record than I thought! Thanks for the callout!

 

[Dandelion]

It's possible we may not hear about KH until next year. It's possible we get something at TGS (though it'd likely be about Missing Link).

Square has some habits in terms of how they market titles -- however, they pull wild cards all the time. Anyone who is speaking with conviction on a possible date or event where we could hear news is making a guess. Until then, there's no point in getting your hopes up but also, it doesn't hurt to me a little optimistic.

 

[Squood!]

At risk of being overly granular on this point, we got a KH3 trailer around New Years in 2015, five months after E3. KH3 itself wouldn't be seen again until E3 2017, a year and six months later. It's been a year and FIVE months since KH4 was announced, and we're well on our way to blasting past the previous record.

There's also how during the KH3 times, there was stuff to tide us over and they were marketing 2.8 as well.

But currently? Nothin' at all.

And imma be honest, if not even Missing Link is at TGS I'm gonna wonder if that game will even perform well considering its ONE test was in January with footage needing to be leaked to really get people talking only for total silence to follow afterward.

Wouldn't be surprised if it was announced early too, really.

 

[Launchpad]

Kingdom Hearts can definitely forego the whole 'must be at E3, must be at a state of play, must be TGS, must be D23' thing at this point. KH makes big dick dollars and gets big dick views. All they have to do is post on their socials "THERE WILL BE A TRAILER NEXT WEEK" and the machine will work just as efficiently, if not more. Of course they'll want to market the game at certain general events, but they can pretty much march at their own pace without needing to appear with other games.

I feel more sure that it'll just happen on some random ass Tuesday than I do about it appearing at the game awards.

 

[Darkspawn]

I would be pretty shocked if KH appeared here, but there is an Xbox digital broadcast on Thursday that’s focusing on Japanese and Asian developers. SE said earlier this year after announcing FFXIV for Xbox that they’re looking to bring future games to the platform. Likewise, Xbox wants to increase their Japanese presence. So I suspect we’ll see something from SE there. Could just be ports, but revealing something new from Dragon Quest XII or Kingdom Hearts IV would certainly make a bigger splash.

But as others have said any ideas at this point are pure speculation. However, I can confidently say it will either show up at a.) an event, b.) a date with some significance or c.) a random day.