Gab Hernandez 
Recent reports suggest Kingdom Hearts 4 will launch for the Nintendo Switch 2, and fans are excited about the franchise’s future.
The Kingdom Hearts franchise has been in a prolonged limbo. Ever since Kingdom Hearts 3’s release in 2019, Square Enix hasn’t touched the franchise, though it wasn’t without its updates. In April 2022, Square Enix released a trailer for the Kingdom Hearts 20th Anniversary Event. The mobile game Kingdom Hearts Missing-Link was quickly forgotten with the reveal trailer of Kingdom Hearts.
The trailer featured a visibly older Sora in what, strangely, seems to be a completely normal apartment in a realistic city. Square Enix confirmed Kingdom Hearts 4 will be the beginning of a new story arc in the franchise. Recent reports suggest fans may experience this new story on an equally new Nintendo console.
Will Kingdom Hearts 4 launch for the Switch 2?
Kingdom Hearts 4 will reportedly launch on the Nintendo Switch 2, though Square Enix has not officially confirmed this.
Sega-focused leaker Midori, who previously reported several pieces of Persona news accurately before official announcements, claims Kingdom Hearts 4 will launch for the Switch 2.
Notably, 10 Kingdom Hearts games are available on the Nintendo Switch, separated into three bundles. However, most are cloud versions, meaning they are not natively run on the console and instead require an internet connection to play. Many fans disliked this decision and told newbies to avoid the Switch ports, deeming them inferior to the originals. The only Kingdom Hearts game that runs natively on the Switch is the Melody of Memory rhythm spin-off.
Though Kingdom Hearts is associated with PlayStation consoles by fans, the series has never truly been exclusive. The second game in the series, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, was released on the Game Boy Advance. More recently, Kingdom Hearts 3 was simultaneously released on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. With Square Enix announcing a greater commitment to multi-platform releases, a native port of the games for Nintendo Switch 2 seems like a no-brainer.
Will other Kingdom Hearts games receive Switch 2 ports?
Kingdom Hearts 4’s release on Nintendo Switch 2 may be accompanied by ports of other games in the series, per Midori.
While Square Enix hasn’t announced any plans for Switch 2 releases, the company has made other moves that support the Switch 2 possibility. For starters, Square Enix finally released the Kingdom Hearts PC ports for Steam after years of being locked behind the Epic Games Store platform.
Reports from the movie industry also imply development on the Kingdom Hearts film has begun in earnest. Finally, Midori also states an upcoming Fortnite x Kingdom Hearts collaboration may be in the works. All these factors could hint at Square Enix’s interest in expanding the Kingdom Hearts brand to as many places as possible.
