Kingdom Hearts III footage shows off Toy Story world, 'HD' remakes could hit Xbox One

By Jez Corden
last updated

At the D23 Expo, Square Enix unveiled brand new Kingdom Hearts III footage to the world.

Kingdom Hearts III is an action RPG that combines the universes of both various Disney franchises and Final Fantasy. It sounds almost like it shouldn't work, but somehow, it just does, and the franchise has won itself millions of fans across the world.

Kingdom Hearts III was announced a while back at Sony's E3 2013 conference, and we've seen bits and pieces of information get drip fed ever since.

At the D23 Expo, Square Enix' legendary designer Tetsuya Nomura unveiled brand new footage, and discussed the possibility of Kingdom Hearts I HD and II HD hitting Xbox One.

The footage gives us a brief look as Sora, Donald Duck, and Goofy traverse Toy Story world, and meet faithful recreations of Toy Story staple characters. The footage is in Japanese, but it shouldn't be too long until an English version emerges to join it.

The trailer also re-emphasized the fact that Kingdom Hearts III will be hitting Xbox One in addition to PS4 and PC, with a vague "2018" launch window. There was some confusion about whether Kingdom Hearts III was PS4 exclusive during its initial announcement, as it was announced as part of Sony's press conference, but there's no longer any reason to doubt.

Speaking of Xbox support, Tetsuya Nomura caught up with IGN to discuss the possibility of Kingdom Hearts I and II HD hitting Xbox One, which is available now on PS4 as a HD collection. The PlayStation 2 classics are highly loved, but Nomura noted that he wasn't sure there's a demand for the games in the anglo-centric audiences enjoyed by Xbox.

"If we were to announce yet another non-Kingdom Hearts 3, people are going to be like, "Hey, what's going on?" So we will want to focus on releasing on the platforms that we have already announced. Do the Western audiences want Kingdom Hearts titles on the Microsoft or Xbox platforms? Japan might say "well, we don't want any more on Xbox."

It's a sad state of affairs that the tiny Xbox market share in Japan could cost fans access to yet another game. Lack of Xbox support in Japan has been cited as a reason for Platinum Games' Nier Automata not hitting the console, too.

Either way, Kingdom Hearts III looks like it's shaping up nicely. Are you interested in the franchise? Let us know in the comments.

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Jez Corden
Jez Corden
Managing Editor

Jez Corden is the Managing Editor for Windows Central, focusing primarily on all things Xbox and gaming. Jez is known for breaking exclusive news and analysis as relates to the Microsoft ecosystem while being powered by caffeine. Follow on Twitter @JezCorden and listen to his Xbox Two podcast, all about, you guessed it, Xbox!

12 Comments
  • What's sad is that square enix is still thinking so small, when it's fairly obvious that Japan is not the biggest market for gaming. They could easily release these games for Xbox and PC in Europe and US and they would find a much bigger market than their Japanese centric thinking is suggesting.
  • Yes yes on pc too. I love kingdom hearts but I'm not willing to buy an Xbox
  • Get a ps2 ;)
  • I have one, my favorite game was kingdom hearts 2
  • Version with english subtitles: https://youtu.be/E4y7UK4nqnQ
  • Thanks for that!
  • When you've seen so many anime you understand what he's saying
  • I was interested in Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2 when they came out, but I didn't own a PS2. I didn't end up buying a Playstation until PS3 was released, but I only ever owned two games for it that never got played. It was basically a glorified Blu-ray player. I never bothered to pick up KH 1 or 2 by that point because I had so many other games to play and a limited amount of time. Besides that, most of my game purchases were for Xbox 360. And now I no longer have the PS3 after purchasing an Xbox One. Kingdom Hearts 3 also looks like a fun, interesting game, but the question is, how much am I missing out on the story by not having played any of the others? After releasing two major titles and a host of other iterations on a different platform, of course it's unlikely there are going to be many people who pick up this title for Xbox. That's the problem with going non-exclusive after having such a long run of exclusive titles. It's hard to generate that interest mid-franchise. I honestly hate exclusives, but I understand why and how they exist. Sometimes console manufacturers pay developers for those exclusive titles. Some developers make games based on their region and which console has the highest adoption rate (i.e. Playstation in Japan). Some developers don't want to put the effort, time, or money into developing for multiple consoles and would rather just focus on one. All of these are legitimate reasons for console exclusives, but it doesn't mean I have to like it.
  • 1 and 2 were great. The story from 2 picks up after one of the spin off games which pick up after 1. I'm sure you could just look up the story somewhere. If I still had a ps2 I would still have these games.
  • I'd LOVE to play KDH II on my X1!!!!!!!! <3
  • Definitely want them for the XBOX One. I played the original on the PS2 and it is a great game.
  • It sucks that I had to get a PS3 just to play KH1, KH2 HD remaster plus the extras. I really do hope they finally allow KD3 to come out for the XB1 that would be amazing. Another lame side note KH 2.8 is still an PS exclusive. Crossing my fingers that this will really happen.