It can be safely assumed now that developer and publisher Square Enix has plans to release a new Kingdom Hearts game on next-generation consoles.
Speaking with Dengeki Online (via Gematsu) in a recent interview, director Tetsuya Nomura admitted that the recent Kingdom Hearts 3 left players with some unsolved mysteries which he wants to tackle next.
“I intend to tie up remaining loose story ends but also want to change the format a bit,” he said. “I want to drastically change the world and tell a new story, but also tie up the loose ends.”
When asked about a potential Kingdom Hearts 4 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, Nomura stated that such a “hypothetical” project would only release “after many other companies have already released their titles.” He added that Square Enix is currently “working to deliver good news” in 2022 which will mark the 20th anniversary of the Kingdom Hearts franchise. This however is not the first time that Nomura has asked fans to stick around until 2022.
In a separate interview with Famitsu a few months back, Nomura confirmed a new project to be in the pipelines and hinted a potential announcement in time for the 20th anniversary celebration in 2022.
Kingdom Hearts 4 has not been officially announced at the time of writing. The game though is expected by many players to be a sequel that fills in the gaps left behind by the Re Mind expansion of Kingdom Hearts 3, which is probably what Nomura was referring to as well.
It is also notable that Nomura hinted a release somewhere in the middle or the end of the current console generation. The latest installment took more than half a decade of development time, but which should not be seeing a repeat. Figuring that Square Enix started work on a new installment in early 2020, a release window of 2023 or 2024 would not be out of the question.
