Kingdom Hearts 3released at the beginning of 2019 to conclude an iconic gaming franchise. Released fourteen years afterKingdom Hearts 2, the trilogy’s finale entry was one of the most anticipated video games for a long time coming. Many installments in the franchise were released betweenKingdom Hearts 2andKingdom Hearts 3, however, and each played a vital role in developing the lore. Whereas these titles may have been “spin-offs” in the hands of other game studios, Square Enix has treated each unnumbered entry as a legitimate continuation of theKingdom Heartsuniverse.
Now, two years afterKH3and five months afterKingdom Hearts Union Cross’send of service, fans are wondering what’s next for the series. Naturally, players are curious as to when – or even if – they might expect aKingdom Hearts 4.
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New Final Fantasy Titles from Square Enix
The release of another installment may come later than expected, though. Square Enix’s current pipeline is chock-full of unreleased games, but not a single one of them is anythingKingdom Heartsrelated. On both console and mobile platforms, it seems Square is doubling down on theirFinal Fantasy 7property. BetweenFinal Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2,Final Fantasy 7 The First Soldier, and theFinal Fantasy 7 Ever Crisiscompilation, there’s only so much room for other titles. Tetsuya Nomura, in addition to directingKingdom Hearts, is the creative director for all three of these games. Despite his humble beginnings at Square as a debugger in the 90’s, Nomura is now one of the company’s busiest developers.
It’s no wonder then that he recently went on record stating that he is responsible for what he calls “an unprecedented number of projects.” For those who watched Square Enix’s 2021 E3 presentation, those projects will sound familiar;NEO: The World Ends with YouandStranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Originwill both see Nomura as creative producer and character designer. He’s also listed as the concept producer of the latter. As a result of this large workload,Nomura recently announced that he is stepping downfrom his role as director of theFinal Fantasy 7 Remake’ssequel. He remains the game’s creative director, however, and will continue to be involved in its development. All in all, Nomura is working on a ton right now, but there’s been no mention of a newKingdom Heartsgame beyond what he’s passively mentioned in the odd interview.
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The Next Kingdom Hearts Might Not Be Numbered
Notwithstanding these brief references to a new game, though, it isn’t clear whether the title would be a numbered entry or not. TheKingdom Heartstimeline has gained a reputation for its complexity, but the seemingly conclusive secret ending ofKingdom Hearts 3left very few directions for the story to move in. It’s also uncertain which group will be handling such a project since Square Enix has developedKingdom Heartstitles with four different teams: their main team in Osaka, their team for developing mobile games (games likeKingdom Hearts Union Cross), their team for musical rhythm games (also known as Indieszero), and an unnamed team that was briefly mentioned in the 7 Questions of Light and 13 Questions of Darkness Q&A.
One of the biggest factors inKingdom Hearts 3’sdelayed release was the growing pains of next-gen consoles. By the timeKH4is officially announced, developers may have completely moved on from last-gen hardware. A fourteen-year waiting period, therefore, seems pretty unlikely. What’s more,Kingdom Heartswill celebrate its twentieth anniversary next year, and there are already leaks suggesting something titled “Project Oath” is planned for early that year. The fact remains, though, that there’s nothing concrete for the immediate future. Until then, fans can only speculate as to what the nature of the next game will be.
