One of the biggest disappointments for fans at this years E3 expo was the absence of Square Enix’s big upcoming titles Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts III. While the former has been rumoured and in circulation for years, with press shots and in game footage gradually proliferating around the web, the latter’s details have been kept a lot more tightly under wraps. That may be because out of the two it is the Kingdom Hearts series that has come to mean more to fans. While Final Fantasy may have a lineage going all the way back to 1987, the relatively young Kingdom Hearts series has been of such a consistently high quality as to have garnered a legion of devotees.
So while fans have no release date and not much more to hold on to the suggestion that Kingdom Hearts III may well include Star Wars and Marvel themed universes has sent many into a bit of a spin. The news was obviously prompted by the fact that Disney, the other key company behind the games development, have acquired both Marvel and Star Wars property. This means that, at least in theory, this gives the Kingdom Hearts series access to these elements.
Previously the series has borrowed on a wealth of themes and worlds from both developers back catalogues including Final Fantasy, Alice in Wonderland, Pirates of the Caribbean, Peter Pan and even Tron. So it wouldn’t be surprising to see the creators branch out and artistically add new elements to the game. The man who should know is director Tetsuya Nomura. After initially registering excitement at the possibility of building worlds from the Marvel and Star Wars canons the director, who is also in charge of Final Fantasy XV, was coy. “It would be great if we could add those licenses as well” he said, “there are lots of rules and restrictions by Disney so we can’t actually put in everything people want.”
Most recently the game has been announced to release, for the first time, across platforms. So both Xbox and Playstation fans can get excited waiting for the latest news. It is still early days for Kingdom Hearts with latest rumours putting the games release around the middle of 2015. Latest news say that the story is still being tweaked and worked out, leaving plenty of space for these new elements to be brought in.
We’ll keep you up to date on all the latest news and rumours concerning Kingdom Hearts 3 Star Wars and Marvel worlds, but who would you really like to see appear in the Kingdom Hearts series?
