While Kingdom Hearts 4 has been official for a long while now, reports suggest that its release date is actually sneaking up on fans.
Kingdom Hearts is a massive franchise, but its fanbase remains deeply wounded. The 14-year wait between Kingdom Hearts 2 and 3 dogs longtime fans and leaves them suspicious of Square Enix. It certainly didn’t help that Kingdom Hearts 3 is widely regarded as a good-but-not-great game.
While there were still three years between the launch of Kingdom Hearts 3 and the reveal of Kingdom Hearts 4, fans welcomed the comparatively quick turnaround. The trouble is that in the two years since then, there’s been basically no information regarding the next installment in the series. This had fans flashing back to the late 2000s when the third game was known to be in development, but still seemingly an eternity away from release. According to a notable leaker, fans don’t need to worry too much.
What is Kingdom Hearts 4’s release date?
Kingdom Hearts 4 is reportedly set to come out in 2025.
The news comes from DanielRPK, a notable Hollywood leaker with a history of delivering unauthorized but accurate news on the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He has more recently started branching out into video games and recently discussed a potential animated adaptation of Kingdom Hearts.
Beyond that, he delivered no other information regarding Kingdom Hearts 4. There was no word on when in 2025 it will come out or what platforms the game will be on. This is a realistic timeframe given everything else surrounding Square Enix at this time.
Square Enix has shipped many of its long-standing projects over the last year. With Final Fantasy 16 and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth now live, the only major AAA projects that Square Enix officially has on the table are Kingdom Hearts 4 and Dragon Quest 12.
Dragon Quest 12 was revealed prior to the Kingdom Hearts 20th Anniversary Event, but little is known about the game. By comparison, the trailer for Kingdom Hearts 4 showed what is labeled as actual gameplay footage.
There are many mysteries with Kingdom Hearts 4 beyond its release date. The game is being developed in Unreal Engine 5. UE5 is designed for modern consoles, suggesting it will skip PlayStation 4, Switch, and Xbox One regardless. Square Enix also passed on Xbox releases for almost all its modern releases. Though Kingdom Hearts 3 received an Xbox release, there’s no guarantee it will land on Series X/S consoles.
From a story perspective, the trailer showed a radically different world than what fans are used to. Quadratum is a modern city with skyscrapers and highways that will be subjected to an apparent Heartless incursion. Seeing this new backdrop next to Kingdom Hearts’ signature wackiness is sure to be a treat.
And naturally, fans will be eager to see which Disney characters and Final Fantasy favorites pop up. Fans will have to wait and find out but in the meantime, there’s another Kingdom Hearts spin-off coming down the pipeline.
