When are we expecting news?

[Forsaken Shadow]

My anxious pessimistic ass is just sitting here hoping the thing that Nomura hinted at about the future of the series being affected wasn't that KH4 would be the last title and they have to wrap up the Lost Master arc in one game. ><

 

[Disney Adventurer]

I was in the 2025-2026 camp when KH IV was announced anyway so this doesn't faze me in the slightest.
Hopefully we'll hear more about IV next year if that's the case.

 

[Darkspawn]

I can't believe some of us expected a 2025 release, I'm lowkey spooked.

I don’t know if this how you mean this, but I really hope people aren’t going to start with the whole “y’all were crazy to think 2025 was possible” thing. I don’t think it was an unreasonable idea, especially with their current pipeline outlook. And who knows, with the restructuring, it could speed up development and slip back into 2025.

Right now, I’m thinking KH4 early 2026 and DQXII that summer. Maybe vice versa, but DQ sounds like it will take longer. I think it’s highly unlikely they go a whole fiscal year without a AAA release, so one of them should be out by March 2026. FFIX sounds like it may be out by March 2025 per Midori, which would be in the fiscal year.

Remember their goal is to speed up the pipeline for the AAA games. It is just going to take some time to get there. KH4 early 2026, DQXII mid-2026, and FFVIIR-3 early 2027 sounds like a solid line up. Another FFXIV expansion will probably be ready for mid-2027 too.

My anxious pessimistic ass is just sitting here hoping the thing that Nomura hinted at about the future of the series being affected wasn't that KH4 would be the last title and they have to wrap up the Lost Master arc in one game. ><

KH3 was a huge success financially and Disney said just a short time ago that they were happy with the successful partnership they’ve had. I don’t think they would prematurely make KH4 the last game in the series without seeing how it performs first.

 

[Chaser]

I'm sorry for all the negative things I've thought and said about you. I didn't realise just how special you are, how good you treat us in the year 2024. Please come home to us, Missing-Link, we really need you.

 

[Liodin]

I still believe that the game can be released in 2025, I don't care what Midori says.

They are now announcing the games 6 months in advance, so if by this time next year nothing has been shown, then I will start thinking about 2026, while you think 2027.

This is when Xbox shows the game tomorrow and fucks up everyone's predictions

 

[Squood!]

Modern game design is a nightmare

I hoped for 2025 internally. I don’t think I said it because I didn’t want to jinx it, but if Midori is right then I should have jinxed it anyways.

Tbf she did say "currently planned"

It could slip back into 2025 or be a January-March release

 

[olu]

At what point has it gone to 14 years between KH2 and 3, when the japanese release is just shy of 13 years.

Posting negatively about anything, every day, is very tiring. Especially when we all, some more than others, try to look at the positive side of the situation and look forward to what is to come.

I see that many of your complaints are because things are not what you want or are not done as you would like. And I think it is a perspective that is very harmful in life, because it only leads to frustration, resentment and disappointment. And on top of that it is very unfair to the other party, because you never gave them a chance.

I know it's difficult, but I invite you to accept things for what they are, not for what they could have been, and I'm sure you'll find ways to deal with the situation better, and you'll see that before you know it we'll all be playing KH4.

This, on top of the speculation of "development having restarted" or the "story being rebooted" really has me scratching my head. So much doom and gloom over nothing.

There's no evidence of an internal delay or conflict regarding KH4. A 2025 release should've never been expected from the moment Nomura stated the initial trailer was released early. Him sharing that factoid should've informed people that the game was still far from finished. As for news, they'll reveal something when they're confident and ready to do so. No point in sharing screens of a brutally unfinished product.

I would've thought the KH3 wait would've melded patience in fans but all I see is PTSD. KH3's development hell was a bad time for Disney, Square Enix and the fans alike. They [Disnet/SQENIX] will not want to repeat the same mistake for its successor. And they won't. Unless they're very stupid.

It's way too early to be worrying. Way too early.

I don’t know if this how you mean this, but I really hope people aren’t going to start with the whole “y’all were crazy to think 2025 was possible” thing. I don’t think it was an unreasonable idea, especially with their current pipeline outlook. And who knows, with the restructuring, it could speed up development and slip back into 2025.

Right now, I’m thinking KH4 early 2026 and DQXII that summer. Maybe vice versa, but DQ sounds like it will take longer. I think it’s highly unlikely they go a whole fiscal year without a AAA release, so one of them should be out by March 2026. FFIX sounds like it may be out by March 2025 per Midori, which would be in the fiscal year.

Remember their goal is to speed up the pipeline for the AAA games. It is just going to take some time to get there. KH4 early 2026, DQXII mid-2026, and FFVIIR-3 early 2027 sounds like a solid line up. Another FFXIV expansion will probably be ready for mid-2027 too.

Personally I expected a late-2025/early-2026 release after watching the trailer. At most, 4 years to get the game in our hands. But the game changer was when the trailer was stated to be released early. Then it went from 4 years at most to 4 years at least. Those still expecting a 2025 release after hearing how the trailer was an early drop are 100% crazy. Delusional, almost.


Games in general are hard to make. AAA games that costs millions are borderline products of miracles. 2025 was never plausible after an early trailer in 2022. Hell, I don't even see an early-2026 release happening. Mid-2026 is my guess.

The longer the development cycle, the more promising the game will be. I want them to cook. I want the game to be good. And good things take time. They [SQENIX] probably caught wind of how KH3 was initially viewed as disappointing after all that time it had in the oven. They won't want to make that mistake again.

 

[xenosaga]

I mean the dev cycle being long is the unfortunate reality of modern AAA development.
Back in the PS1~PS2 days Square released FF7, FF8, FF9, and FF10 from 1997 to 2001. Those were the good old days.

I think the only exception in recent years is FF7 Rebirth and that was possible due to them working straight after Remake with seamless continuation because it's a proper trilogy.

Having said all this, I was still hoping KH4 would come out a bit sooner but I guess development can be tough.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

I'm sorry for all the negative things I've thought and said about you. I didn't realise just how special you are, how good you treat us in the year 2024. Please come home to us, Missing-Link, we really need you.

Missing Link must live for two years. I will make it live (with my monthly one or two jewel pack purchases and nothing else because lol ain't nobody got that munny when McDonalds is charging a whole arm for a Big Mac and nuggies)

 

[xenosaga]

I just pray they don't region-lock Missing-Link because they certainly aren't going to do a service where I live.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

I just pray they don't region-lock Missing-Link because they certainly aren't going to do a service where I live.

That would be really cruel if they did.

 

[xenosaga]

That would be really cruel if they did.

Unfortunately I don't have much hope since Ever Crisis is region-locked here. ;_;

 

[Dandelion]

Personally I expected a late-2025/early-2026 release after watching the trailer. At most, 4 years to get the game in our hands. But the game changer was when the trailer was stated to be released early. Then it went from 4 years at most to 4 years at least. Those still expecting a 2025 release after hearing how the trailer was an early drop are 100% crazy. Delusional, almost.

Surely there must be a less shitty way to say this opinion

 

[Squood!]

This, on top of the speculation of "development having restarted" or the "story being rebooted" really has me scratching my head. So much doom and gloom over nothing.

There's no evidence of an internal delay or conflict regarding KH4. A 2025 release should've never been expected from the moment Nomura stated the initial trailer was released early. Him sharing that factoid should've informed people that the game was still far from finished. As for news, they'll reveal something when they're confident and ready to do so. No point in sharing screens of a brutally unfinished product.

I would've thought the KH3 wait would've melded patience in fans but all I see is PTSD. KH3's development hell was a bad time for Disney, Square Enix and the fans alike. They [Disnet/SQENIX] will not want to repeat the same mistake for its successor. And they won't. Unless they're very stupid.

It's way too early to be worrying. Way too early.


Personally I expected a late-2025/early-2026 release after watching the trailer. At most, 4 years to get the game in our hands. But the game changer was when the trailer was stated to be released early. Then it went from 4 years at most to 4 years at least. Those still expecting a 2025 release after hearing how the trailer was an early drop are 100% crazy. Delusional, almost.


Games in general are hard to make. AAA games that costs millions are borderline products of miracles. 2025 was never plausible after an early trailer in 2022. Hell, I don't even see an early-2026 release happening. Mid-2026 is my guess.

The longer the development cycle, the more promising the game will be. I want them to cook. I want the game to be good. And good things take time. They [SQENIX] probably caught wind of how KH3 was initially viewed as disappointing after all that time it had in the oven. They won't want to make that mistake again.

Tbf the reason the announcement was early compared to KH3 just boils down to Nomura thinking it would be leaked and wanting to avoid that.

even tho not only was it already leaked through the NVIDIA leak but also people at the time[and even during the KH3 leak crisis]were more concerned about making stuff up. That and even if the game's existence was leaked from another source people wouldn't believe it until it well...showed up.

Nomura didn't really mention the state of the game itself influencing the decision. Only time he brought that up was how the trailer was the only time they'd be able to show the game in its UE4 state.

TL;DR, this time the reveal being early very likely has nothing to do with the state of development.

I'm in a more level headed mindset rn, and I'm just gonna say


None of us are working on the game. None of us know the state of the game. It could still be pretty damn unfinished, it could be pretty damn far along. A release window that isn't even set in total stone is normal. It could change at any time. It being 2026 means it could be just barely past 2025, or halfway through 2026. It depends on what they think the best time for release is.

We are not the developers. We are not insiders with connections like Midori. We do not have the knowledge they have. And when it comes to the latter, they could even be misinformed.

We can only guess, speculate, think, discuss, and wait. That's all we can do.

We can also eat pizza bagels.

 

[Darkspawn]

Anyways, my hope is one of the direction changes is that they aren’t moving away from the Quadratum/Verum Rex stuff, but maybe it’ll be a balance of that and the classic Disney stuff. Maybe they actually will consider a full Kairi scenario where she goes to the worlds like Moana, Encanto, etc. while Sora goes to the Unreality worlds like Star Wars.

Remember initially Nomura was saying there wouldn’t be as many worlds. But maybe that changed as they began working with UE5 and realized what it was capable of? This is just me being hopeful of course. But remember it didn’t really come off like a bad thing when they talked about the change of direction and Midori is sort of reiterating that now.

 

[Squood!]

The change in direction is a Bandai Namco collab where Sora has a PS2 and can play the first five Tekken games

He frequents Kuma and Jin from 3 onward

 

[UkeSora]

With this rumor of KH4 coming out in 2026, I have to wonder: with KH games taking so long to be made, how many more games can Nomura make before he dies or retires? I don't think this saga will be the last one, and I don't think Disney and Square will let the series die while making money. People will not like what I am about to say, but I don't think Nomura is a good storyteller. He has cool ideas, I guess, but the execution is very mediocre. I feel like the series can have a lot of potential with new minds behind it, like Star Wars.


And like Star Wars, I don't think we are going to see a definite ending for KH. The series will keep going even after our deaths.

 

[1millionsquats]

Sorry for the long post, I was away for the past couple of days but I really enjoy reading and partaking in the discussions.

Again it's not that I mind waiting in itself, but when Nomura made KH3 and it teased these crazy big ideas for the next thing .. i mean, will we even get to see what he had in mind when he came up with that stuff? seven years is a long, long time. you change as a person, in that time. nomura's 53 now so, what, at this rate there's only gonna be three more KH games after this one? idk. games industry makes me feel sick always

This might be a controversial take, or even delusional, but they should probably treat KH4 like KH1 in a sense.
What I mean is that all of the games after 1 were made with sequels and the ongoing nature of the series in mind. During 1's development I can only assume they didn't really know for sure it was going to be a smash hit and turn into this huge franchise, so even if the ending leaves Sora's destiny open for a sequel, it would also work as a bittersweet conclusion had it been the only game.

My only major gripe with this news is that we'll have more than enough time for KH3's trailers-as-entertainment model to return from the grave

I think you've mentioned this trailers-as-entertainment model before, what do you mean by that? Like, people rewatching trailers and using them as a basis for speculation etc.?

I don’t really agree with that. For all we know, Quadratum could have been completely reworked. There could be new character models. Reworked graphic shaders. Star Wars may have been cut. Maybe they decided to move away from the realistic visuals. There’s really no telling until we see it again.

Between this and Nomura’s comment about the direction of the series changing, it could be a bigger change than just graphics.

Depending what her source is, there could be some marketing coming soon. That’s often where these leaks come from. Maybe they do something like they did with Rebirth in 2022 where they confirmed it for “next winter.”

The first thing to cross my mind from Midori saying the game looks different, added to Nomura's comment that KH4 might feel a bit different from other games in the series is that they may have changed the structure of the game or even the premise. Things like the "build" mechanic, or what exactly Sora does around Quadratum, for example. Of course, we've never seen actual gameplay to be able to compare, but one does wonder.

If they changed the whole story for KH4, I hope after KH4 releases, someone leaks the original story/build of the game

Would they really just get rid of Yozora after all the teasing from KH3's secret ending and Reminds secret boss?

Yozora is probably still there and relevant, the trailer/recap for the Steam collection uses the scene where Sora meets Yozora when showcasing Kingdom Hearts 3, and that feels deliberate. You could say this is a stretch, I don't know how the marketing department at Square operates but that scene being there strikes me as "Hey, this is important!".

 

[Chaser]

With this rumor of KH4 coming out in 2026, I have to wonder: with KH games taking so long to be made, how many more games can Nomura make before he dies or retires? I don't think this saga will be the last one, and I don't think Disney and Square will let the series die while making money. People will not like what I am about to say, but I don't think Nomura is a good storyteller. He has cool ideas, I guess, but the execution is very mediocre. I feel like the series can have a lot of potential with new minds behind it, like Star Wars.


And like Star Wars, I don't think we are going to see a definite ending for KH. The series will keep going even after our deaths.

I don't think it's good to reflect on what'd happen to the series if Nomura passed away, because of how morbid that is to theorise about what would happen to a game series after a real person dies, but in terms of retirement I think we'd all hope that there'd have been talent cultivated to take over. A lot of us thought that's what was happening with Tai Yasue, that he was being prepped to take over at some stage but who knows if that was the plan at all.

Nomura could move into a consulting role for a while as well, ideas get run passed him or they work off a brief he provides.

 

[xenosaga]

With this rumor of KH4 coming out in 2026, I have to wonder: with KH games taking so long to be made, how many more games can Nomura make before he dies or retires? I don't think this saga will be the last one, and I don't think Disney and Square will let the series die while making money. People will not like what I am about to say, but I don't think Nomura is a good storyteller. He has cool ideas, I guess, but the execution is very mediocre. I feel like the series can have a lot of potential with new minds behind it, like Star Wars.


And like Star Wars, I don't think we are going to see a definite ending for KH. The series will keep going even after our deaths.

In his most recent interview he was talking a bit about retirement... although in very vague form and it's not like he is planning to retire soon or anything... but he was kinda wondering how many more games he can work.


On a personal level, I can't think of KH without Nomura and I personally don't want one without him. A bit similar to how I feel about MGS without Kojima...
And I am not saying I want Nomura doing everything. I don't mind him taking more of a backseat and let other younger blood have more say in certain aspects of the development. Like I would like Nomura to come up with core idea/concepts of the story, and another person write the main story with those ideas, etc.
But KH without ANY involvement from Nomura? Him not designing the characters? like I just can't imagine myself getting invested as much if that happens.

I do think they will continue to make KH without him, but hopefully before that day comes Nomura can at least wrap up the current arc.