When are we expecting news?

[Darkspawn]

If they decide to do some kind of countdown to SGF like they did with the dev comments last year for Rebirth, tomorrow (26th) and the 1st are the days to keep an eye on. 13 and 7 days from the event respectively.

It’d be cool if they did 6 days for Missing Link and 7 for KH4.

 

[xenosaga]

If it is going to be at SGF, I hope Geoff announces Square Enix asap.

 

[Chaser]

Mmm I don't get why there's even a part one and part two or however many parts there are to a partner announcement. I will never understand Geoff and his decisions.

If they decide to do some kind of countdown to SGF like they did with the dev comments last year for Rebirth, tomorrow (26th) and the 1st are the days to keep an eye on. 13 and 7 days from the event respectively.

It’d be cool if they did 6 days for Missing Link and 7 for KH4.

I hope it's better than Rebirth's though! Those questions were frustrating. "The GAME will feature SOME music" "THERE will BE battles"

But I also want KH to do it's own thing with marketing. I don't want Square Enix to copy themselves but with all the layoffs that would have hit marketing and PR, I'm afraid their budgets would be slashed and they'd have to recycle ideas.

 

[xenosaga]

Geoff likes to tease stuff since he seems to like to get attention with these kind of things.
Honestly I don't really have much hope atm. Usually I expect the big publishers to be listed day 1 announcement, not the ones that gets announced later...

The best scenario would be Geoff announcing Square Enix as part of next publishers and even announce Kingdom Hearts will be there. Would be nice if they can get Tai Yasue/Nomura announced for it like similar to what they are doing for Atlus's Metaphor, but I highly doubt Nomura would actually show up to these things lol.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

Also let’s be honest—their marketing is not effective. I’ve had this complaint for years but in my opinion much of their success for the last decade has been in spite of their marketing approach rather than because of it.

I think this is finally catching up to them with their big blockbuster titles not setting the world on fire despite great reviews.

And for their smaller titles they didn’t even BOTHER with trying to market them which also failed those games.

But I feel like there is no way for them to change their approach now because it’s worked for them for years, and it’s not easy to pinpoint the best alternative. I imagine SE will experiment with more influencer marketing before realizing it’s a sunk cost, though lol

 

[Chaser]

I hope they don't go down the influencer path. Nothing feels less authentic than seeing that a company paid someone to play their game. But I'm part of the old guard, these young folks are a different breed.

Also just... don't do an adidas cross-promotion where Sora gets an ugly ass outfit . It's so ugly in Spider-Man 2.

 

[xenosaga]

Yeah

Also let’s be honest—their marketing is not effective. I’ve had this complaint for years but in my opinion much of their success for the last decade has been in spite of their marketing approach rather than because of it.

I think this is finally catching up to them with their big blockbuster titles not setting the world on fire despite great reviews.

And for their smaller titles they didn’t even BOTHER with trying to market them which also failed those games.

But I feel like there is no way for them to change their approach now because it’s worked for them for years, and it’s not easy to pinpoint the best alternative. I imagine SE will experiment with more influencer marketing before realizing it’s a sunk cost, though lol

Yeah I have been following SE for a long time and I agree that their marketing, especially in last decade or saw, has been pretty abysmal. Just look at how games like NEO TWEWY was marketed.....it's just sad...
I just feel like in many aspects the company is stuck in the past, both in game development and their business strategies, including marketing. Obviously they still make some great games, but they just seem not to know what to make that sells well, as well as how to market their games properly.

 

[Launchpad]

Re:Squares bad marketing

I can't believe how hard the combat team works on all the little details, from formchange magic, to abilities, to boss design. Kingdom Hearts (especially 2FM and 3 Remind) has earned a seat at the big boy table when it comes to action games... and yet Square is allergic to marketing it as a major feature. All they want to show is how heartwarming and eMoTiOnAl KH is, and how it'll give you THE FEELS!!!

It's like they're basically saying "fire up YouTube and watch those scenes! There's no reason to buy this thing!". KH, to me, is fun. More than anything else. More than heartwarming, more than epic, more than interesting, they've just crafted a formula that feels fun to play through over and over. People only see the shmaltzy side of KH because Square refuses to advertise the game as a game.

 

[2 quid is good]

All they want to show is how heartwarming and eMoTiOnAl KH is, and how it'll give you THE FEELS!!!

It's like they're basically saying "fire up YouTube and watch those scenes! There's no reason to buy this thing!". KH, to me, is fun. More than anything else. More than heartwarming, more than epic, more than interesting, they've just crafted a formula that feels fun to play through over and over. People only see the shmaltzy side of KH because Square refuses to advertise the game as a game.

THIS!! This is what I was trying to articulate before and I couldn't find the proper words, but yes!!! It was always sort of implicit before but when they outright used "emotional and heartwarming" in the tweet it completely rubbed me the wrong way and actually took me out of the moment as well.

I don't think you're gonna get a lot of new fans with that tactic, especially that tween demographic - if KH is still trying to appeal to that demographic???

Because all of the marketing just feels completely geared towards fans, and a certain subset of fans at that. Just show off the fun Disney game!

This Tv spot right here (but with a British narrator lol) is what got me interested in KH at 10 years old, I'm not saying it's an amazing trailer but it sold KH to ME, just by showing off the gameplay and the crossover aspect, and also a little bit of that anime hype.

 

[Liodin]

Geoff likes to tease stuff since he seems to like to get attention with these kind of things.
Honestly I don't really have much hope atm. Usually I expect the big publishers to be listed day 1 announcement, not the ones that gets announced later...

The best scenario would be Geoff announcing Square Enix as part of next publishers and even announce Kingdom Hearts will be there. Would be nice if they can get Tai Yasue/Nomura announced for it like similar to what they are doing for Atlus's Metaphor, but I highly doubt Nomura would actually show up to these things lol.

Remember, some partners will not be revealed before the event. So until the end, there will be a chance.

Geoff knows what he's doing, and he knew that after Rebirth it was KH4's turn, and how loyal we fans are. So he has been laying the groundwork since last year for this moment:

Exactly that.

I also want to add that since the Rebirth trailer at SGF, Geoff has been personally thanking "Nomura-san", as he says, every chance he gets. Something he hasn't done with other developers.

I will share with you some that I could find/remember, in chronological order.

Links:

• After the Rebirth trailer at the SGF (1:40:40)
• In a response to a tweet with a message from Nomura about Rebirth
• At TGA, after the performance of "No Promises to Keep" and the Apex Legends x Rebirth collaboration, with a key art made by Nomura (2:13:20)
• In a tweet after attending Rebirth's launch event

Even now we could add:

• Tweet about the Steam release, with Rabbit telling Sora a secret
• A heart in response to the new version of Simple and Clean

He is fueling rumors that KH4 may be at his event, which makes fans want to see it just in case. SE sees that people are speculating about this, and sees that we are receptive to seeing KH4 at that event, even more so than at Sony's.

Now put yourselves in SE's shoes. This already happened last year with Rebirth, by the way.
You have two events with big audiences. Where do you show the trailer, in the one that is going to have several big announcements or the one that is going to have few big announcements and many medium ones?

Well, as SE did last year, you want your game to get all the attention, so you want as little competition as possible. And on top of that, Rebirth was exclusive to Sony, and yet it was shown at the SGF and in the Showcase they showed XVI, when they could have done it the other way around.

But rumor has it that this year will be a State of Play, so that's a different story.

So maybe, Sony and Geoff are fighting to have the trailer, and that's why he hasn't been able to reveal it yet.

But I feel like SE wants to capitalize on the KH4 announcement to promote ML and the Steam release.

Now the question is, do they want to show the KH4 trailer at the Sony event, and the others at the SGF, so that each thing has its moment and generates hype and discussion on both days? Or show everything at the SGF, so KH is the protagonist and gets all the users and media attention?

Of course all this only makes sense IF there is a trailer to be shown. But certainly all the speculation that is forming is not unfounded.

 

[xenosaga]

Remember, some partners will not be revealed before the event. So until the end, there will be a chance.

Geoff knows what he's doing, and he knew that after Rebirth it was KH4's turn, and how loyal we fans are. So he has been laying the groundwork since last year for this moment:

Yeah it's true that there is always chance... which is why I will probably watch the show even if they don't announce KH/SE until the end...

But I do expect there to be at least some sort of tease/hint before the show that it will be there, just like they did with FF7 Rebirth. Rebirth was pretty smart (even if the actual content of the tease was questionable) and it worked as nice tease, so it would be smart to do something similar.

I mean it would be for Geoff's best interest to announce big companies like Square Enix beforehand to gather more attention and to have more people watch the show.

 

[1millionsquats]

He is fueling rumors that KH4 may be at his event, which makes fans want to see it just in case.

This might be a bit cynical, but if you ask me that's exactly what he's doing: stirring the pot and building up hype to his show whether KH4 is going to be shown off or not. He must know that fans of the series tend to look for hints even where there are none, as we've been conditioned by Nomura to do, and that a large portion of these fans will watch the whole thing through just in case it does show up.

 

[Liodin]

This might be a bit cynical, but if you ask me that's exactly what he's doing: stirring the pot and building up hype to his show whether KH4 is going to be shown off or not. He must know that fans of the series tend to look for hints even where there are none, as we've been conditioned by Nomura to do, and that a large portion of these fans will watch the whole thing through just in case it does show up.

Correct.

Geoff is in a win-win position right now.

He wants the trailer, and he's made that clear to SE, Nomura and us.

But all he's done publicly has been various harmless, but calculated, mentions and interactions, that have fans starting to believe that the SGF, more so than even the Sony event, will be where we see the trailer.

This is Geoff's trump card. Having created this hype from nothing, he has thousands of players as leverage, which he can use to negotiate with SE to secure the trailer for his event.

The thing is, if he gets the trailer, all these mentions and interactions will become, in the eyes of the fans, signs and clues that Geoff has been leaving us to notice. In the case of not having it, everything will have been simply genuine or informative actions, related to KH, but with no intention. We were simply overthinking.

He has covered his back well for any scenario.

But be in no doubt that Geoff is trying. Because if he succeeds, he will not only gain a large audience, but also create a precedent that will make many people not only look forward to the next SGF, but also to TGA.

 

[Keyblade Knight 1st Class]

Friendly reminder that Dragon Quest XII was announced 3 years ago today and is still MIA.

 

[2 quid is good]

I just think Geoff Keighley shouldn't have anything

 

[Phoenix]

Friendly reminder that Dragon Quest XII was announced 3 years ago today and is still MIA.

Ouch, that hurts.

 

[Darkspawn]

I think the ship has sailed for today. For Rebirth, the posts were around 9am EST the 2nd-8th. So I don’t think they’re doing the 13 since it would have started earlier this morning.

I agree with Chaser that something original besides the Q&A would be nice. I’d rather any interview come after the trailer so we can get some extra insights after watching. I just hope we get some kind of teaser in advance if it’s going to be there. It will be a tough watch if there’s no hint of something showing up. The merch lottery starts Friday in Japan, so maybe we get something around then.

I also agree that SE’s marketing tactics are pretty abysmal. It’s sad that Rebirth’s most viewed trailer (the one from SGF) only got a third of the views that KH3’s most successful trailer received.

They really should be more active on their socials outside of big releases. Even more so right now. They should be posting highlights of gameplay from each game featured in the Steam ports, posting character profiles, etc. Hell, post a KH meme every now and then. It honestly feels like no one at SENA marketing team actually has any genuine investment or enthusiasm for KH as a franchise.

 

[Phoenix]

I think the ship has sailed for today. For Rebirth, the posts were around 9am EST the 2nd-8th. So I don’t think they’re doing the 13 since it would have started earlier this morning.

I agree with Chaser that something original besides the Q&A would be nice. I’d rather any interview come after the trailer so we can get some extra insights after watching. I just hope we get some kind of teaser in advance if it’s going to be there. It will be a tough watch if there’s no hint of something showing up. The merch lottery starts Friday in Japan, so maybe we get something around then.

I also agree that SE’s marketing tactics are pretty abysmal. It’s sad that Rebirth’s most viewed trailer (the one from SGF) only got a third of the views that KH3’s most successful trailer received.

They really should be more active on their socials outside of big releases. Even more so right now. They should be posting highlights of gameplay from each game featured in the Steam ports, posting character profiles, etc. Hell, post a KH meme every now and then. It honestly feels like no one at SENA marketing team actually has any genuine investment or enthusiasm for KH as a franchise.

This is my core issue. It feels that neither Square Enix or Disney have any love for the series, for whatever reason. And it's only still around because it's financially successful.

Disney would rather do things their way without jrpg bullshit (eg. Dreamlight Valley) and SE... I don't know, would prefer not to deal with all the legal stuff around it? Doesn't feel it's part of its brand? I have no idea where this apathy is coming from.

As much as I deride Dark Road, it had a team of, like, one or two people or whatever. The trailers are bad, there's barely any marketing for anything. They keep complaining their products are underdelivering, but ignore one of their core properties.

 

[xenosaga]

If Sony does their Showcase/State of Play summer, it will be this week so it will be interesting to see if KH4 shows up. I Like I said before I think SGF is more likely place but I would never rule out Playstation event for KH stuff..

 

[Chaser]

It's Dragon Quest day apparently, and SE put a teaser online for the Dragon Quest 2D-HD remake. No footage or date but platforms were included. I figured if they were teasing its reappearance then they'd be confirmed for SGF but I guess it could be at Sony, Xbox, or Nintendo's live streams.

It'd be nice to get as many platforms confirmed for KH4.