News ► KINGDOM HEARTS middle-grade novel series by Brooke Vitale on hold

[Oracle Spockanort]

Back in 2019, it was discovered that Scholastic would be publshing a series of new middle-grade Kingdom Hearts novels by Brooke Vitale. The series was supposed to introduce brand new heroes and new story to the rich legacy of the Kingdom Hearts franchise and had initially been slated to release May 2020. 

Twitter user @Xigbanort13 asked Vitale about the status of the project, to which she responded that the series had been put on hold due to the pandemic. 

Unfortunately, it's been put on hold on account of the pandemic.????

— Brooke Vitale (@VitaleBrooke) January 12, 2021

Kingdom Hearts series director Tetsuya Nomura previously announced in an interview with Dengeki Online that news on the series would be going on hold until the series' 20th anniversary in 2022 where he plans to announce "something good" for fans. While this new novel series would have originally released in 2020, hopefully fans will get to enjoy it in 2022.

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[Oracle Spockanort]

May I say I'm super sad about this? We won't be getting anymore novels for a very long time and I had been hoping maybe this would happen in 2021, but with how book publishing works + the pandemic + Nomura's 2022 microman--synergy, I am not going to hold my breath

:c

 

[Sign]

I continue to be shocked that SE didn't just put a hard stop to this after they found out a random children's author boldly proclaimed she was introducing new canon to the series.

 

[MATGSY]

I continue to be shocked that SE didn't just put a hard stop to this after they found out a random children's author boldly proclaimed she was introducing new canon to the series.

If Disney greenlit it, probably not a whole lot Square can do about it.

 

[Sign]

If Disney greenlit it, probably not a whole lot Square can do about it.

A round of applause for the person greenlighting requests from authors to license their properties I guess, as I doubt the people actually involved with KH at Disney were actually involved with this decision.

 

[Face My Fears]

This is sad. I was looking forward to her additions to the canon.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

As somebody who has been sitting and reading all of the most recent "what if" and "Twisted" Disney novels, I'm honestly fine with whatever Vitale has cooked up for fans. I have little expectations for it, but I would hope it would be a fun read.

If Disney greenlit it, probably not a whole lot Square can do about it.

Nomura, if he cared or was upset by it, could cause enough ruckus to make something happen. He's done it before with the animated series stuff (especially in the last 5 years or so where he got Disney to shut down any outside pitches for one).

But he is also just as likely to not care because he'd be doing his own thing...and yeah you're right Disney will do whatever they please. They have worked their way around the very weird merchandising agreement they had with SE and have gotten away with a lot by just selling their IP license in bulk with KH included in that, which is how publishers like Scholastic will get to publish KH books.

 

[Absent]

Honestly after reading this thread, I’m more curious and want this more than ever.

 

[AdrianXXII]

Ah so this is why we haven't heard anything about the books last year.

I am a bit surprised the pandemic would be an issue for these books

 

[Chaser]

Honestly after reading this thread, I’m more curious and want this more than ever.

There was this but we don't know if it was for the book or not.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1240737071624384512

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

Ah so this is why we haven't heard anything about the books last year.

I am a bit surprised the pandemic would be an issue for these books

In general it can take 1-3 years or even more for books to get published after being completed, and with the pandemic coming around and disrupting the ability to print and circulate books, publishers had to make the choice to prioritize books that were probably either already going to print or had a higher chance of higher sales.

If you haven't noticed, books are going out of print left and right right now, and newer books are having even smaller early print runs than normal.

I wouldn't be surprised if Vitale's series either gets pushed out to 2022 (a great time to capitalize on anniversary hype, and we would hope Scholastic's marketing team has done the research to be aware of it. also we'd hope that the world is in a better place overall by then) or it just never releases (which would absolutely suck for her because atm this would be her first credited novel series and she's probably put a lot of work into it)

 

[AdrianXXII]

In general it can take 1-3 years or even more for books to get published after being completed, and with the pandemic coming around and disrupting the ability to print and circulate books, publishers had to make the choice to prioritize books that were probably either already going to print or had a higher chance of higher sales.

If you haven't noticed, books are going out of print left and right right now, and newer books are having even smaller early print runs than normal.

I wouldn't be surprised if Vitale's series either gets pushed out to 2022 (a great time to capitalize on anniversary hype, and we would hope Scholastic's marketing team has done the research to be aware of it. also we'd hope that the world is in a better place overall by then) or it just never releases (which would absolutely suck for her because atm this would be her first credited novel series and she's probably put a lot of work into it)

I'm not much of an avid reader, so I wasn't aware of most of this. I guess most of the writing is done in that case, just the actual publishing of the books is being held up by the pandemic.

I do hope they can siege on the anniversary and release then would be a nice way to celebrate 20 years.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

I'm not much of an avid reader, so I wasn't aware of most of this. I guess most of the writing is done in that case, just the actual publishing of the books is being held up by the pandemic.

I do hope they can siege on the anniversary and release then would be a nice way to celebrate 20 years.

Yeah, typically when listings go up for books, it is because they are already finished and have been sitting in a queue/on a schedule of sorts to get released, are likely nearly completed, or are part of some sort of book deal.

When this listing went up in 2019, it could have very well have been done for a long time before that or on its way to being complete.

Yeah! Let's hope!

 

[Squood!]

I honestly forgot about this simply because it just kinda didn't get any info outside of its announcement.

Now I'm wondering how the pandemic can put a book series on hold before its even being published.

Edit: nvm, spock already said why.

 

[Alpha Baymax]

A round of applause for the person greenlighting requests from authors to license their properties I guess, as I doubt the people actually involved with KH at Disney were actually involved with this decision.

The only time I ever remember a Kingdom Hearts project being greenlit without Square Enix's involvement was Kingdom Hearts V-Cast.

I also remember this cancelled Kingdom Hearts project.

Disney was developing a Kingdom Hearts title for iOS & Android named "Kingdom Hearts: Fragmented Keys" in 2013, since cancelled

A former programmer at Disney Interactive has revealed the name and details of a cancelled Kingdom Hearts title. The game was called Kingdom Hearts: Fragmented Keys, and is said to have been deep in development during 2013 by Wideload Games, a studio of Disney Interactive. Kingdom Hearts: Fragmen...

www.kh13.com

 

[PrettyGuard]

Knowing that she's safe and healthy this pandemic is enough reason for me to be happy. It means she will still be able to continue her job as it is when the time comes that this Covid-19 become less of our concern.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

Knowing that she's safe and healthy this pandemic is enough reason for me to be happy. It means she will still be able to continue her job as it is when the time comes that this Covid-19 become less of our concern.

She’s probably hard at work writing and editing all sorts of things. It’s just Scholastic really that has put things on hold.

 

[AR829038]

So, wait, are these books going to be official canon? Even if Nomura isn't involved?

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

So, wait, are these books going to be official canon? Even if Nomura isn't involved?

“official canon” like if Nomura doesn’t directly contradict it, you can believe in it being a thing somewhere out there. Y’know, like how most of any of Disney’s expanded media works. Everything supplemental can, in theory, be canon until it isn’t lolol

 

[AdrianXXII]

I also remember this cancelled Kingdom Hearts project.

Disney was developing a Kingdom Hearts title for iOS & Android named "Kingdom Hearts: Fragmented Keys" in 2013, since cancelled

A former programmer at Disney Interactive has revealed the name and details of a cancelled Kingdom Hearts title. The game was called Kingdom Hearts: Fragmented Keys, and is said to have been deep in development during 2013 by Wideload Games, a studio of Disney Interactive. Kingdom Hearts: Fragmen...

www.kh13.com

Isn't that around the time Disney decided to stop making games themselves. So that might have been a factor in it's cancellation, as well as the fact that Chi was being ported to smartphones around then too.