Entertainment

Kingdom Hearts 4 Directors Promise No Delay Past Late 2027 Launch

Vince MaglayaPublished 4h ago3 min readBased on 5 sources
Kingdom Hearts 4 Directors Promise No Delay Past Late 2027 Launch
Image by Setupx3D from Pixabay

Kingdom Hearts 4 will arrive in late 2027, and the people making it want players to know that date is holding firm.

Series creator and director Tetsuya Nomura made a surprise appearance at a Kingdom Hearts panel during Disney's D23 expo in Anaheim, California, on Saturday night. Speaking through an on-stage interpreter, Nomura directly addressed online speculation that the game's release window might slip. "That is not happening," he told the audience. Co-director Tai Yasue reinforced the point, calling the late 2027 target a "100% thing." (VGC, IGN)

Square Enix had announced the late 2027 window the day before, during Disney's D23 conference on Friday, alongside a new trailer for the game. The publisher's official North American press release confirms Kingdom Hearts IV will be released for Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC, and is available to add to wish lists now. (Square Enix)

Kingdom Hearts is a long-running action role-playing series that mashes up original characters with worlds and figures from Disney and Pixar films. The fourth main entry is being developed by Square Enix, with Nomura — who has directed every game in the series — at the helm. (IGN)

D23 delivered more than release-date reassurance. Square Enix confirmed that the world of Coco, the 2017 Pixar film set during Mexico's Día de los Muertos, will feature as one of Kingdom Hearts 4's Disney-themed worlds. The series has long let players explore reimagined versions of Disney films, and Coco joins the lineup of destinations for the new game.

Beyond the game itself, a Kingdom Hearts animated series is in the works, with plans to release it on Disney+ and the Disney Channel. No release date for the series was given.

For fans, the D23 panel brought a rare double: a firm date from the directors themselves and a glimpse of where the series is heading next. Nomura and Yasue sharing the stage to stamp out delay rumours in person is not the usual way a publisher communicates a release window — and it speaks to how much attention the late 2027 target has already drawn.

Whether the game meets that window is a production question for 2027. For now, the directors have said their piece.

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