Kingdom Hearts 3, Final Fantasy 15 Release Date and News

Oct 30, 2015 11:56 PM EDT

Kingdom Hearts 3 release date remains a mystery, even though the game is already available for pre-order. A quick inspection of Amazon's listing reveals a place-holder date set for December 31, 2016. Happily, though, Final Fantasy 15 is confirmed for a 2016 release date.

Final Fantasy XV Director Reveals Why Heroes are in Black

This week, Final Fantasy XV director Hajime Tabata answered fan questions regarding why the protagonists are attired head-to-toe in black. His answer was surprising.

"The clothing worn by the four main characters is the official battle gear of the Kingdom of Lucis," Tabata said in an interview with Kotaku this week. "Noctis is a member of the royal family and the other three characters are parts of various Lucian national organisations, and they are each wearing the specific battle dress relevant to their individual stations."

He also elaborated on the mythology behind the latest installment in the Final Fantasy franchise.

"In the Kingdom of Lucis where our heroes reside, the colour black has historically been treated as a special color," the senior game director explained. "Because of this, the attire of the royal family and those in occupations closely tied to them are unified by having black as a base colouring. This part of the lore is the reason the outfits of all four main characters are black."

Tabata finished by stating the clothing will not just be for looks, but will also influence the battle. He stopped short of saying how that will happen. Upon release, Final Fantasy XV will be playable on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles.

No Word on Kingdom Hearts 3 Status

The last time anything of significance was said of Kingdom Hearts 3 was back in June during the E3 2015. At that time, Square Enix revealed that popular Disney film Big Hero 6 would be a part of the upcoming game. That information was confirmed in a Games Radar interview with Kingdom Heart 3's director Tetsuya Nomura.  

"...Developing for a console requires a lot of development time as well as the resources, and I wanted to have my development team gain experience of being quick on their feet and developing in a very fast-paced situation, but still have that experience and skill to bring high-quality in the optimum time possible," Nomura admitted in a Game Rant report.

Since then, there has not been any news regarding the exact status of the game. However, based on a trailer that was released earlier, it is safe to say that Kingdom Hearts 3 development is still alive and well. Until further news is available, Kingdom Hearts fans will need to be patient.