The year of 2016 is going to be great for Square Enix, as they are finally releasing Final Fantasy 15 on September 30. There is another video game franchise with a deep mythology that has been developing for decades, and that is Kingdom Hearts 3. Fans want to know when the release date for this game, but considering how little news there has been, it has been expected that 2017 will be the year of Kingdom Hearts 3.
At this point, it would not be surprising if Kingdom Hearts 3 came out in 2018. The issue is that the game might not even be started yet, according to a tweet from Quinton Flynn. According to Parent Herald, Quinton Flynn, who plays the role of Axel in the game, tweeted "when is the new Kingdom Hearts going into production? Step it up. Quinton needs to pay his bills".
Now, it is possible that the game is currently in production, but the fact that there hasn't been any official word about it really is a turnoff to the fans of the franchise. Some have been thinking that the game isn't happening at all, like Pokémon Z.
There have been trailers for Kingdom Hearts 3, and it is very clear that Square Enix wants to remind everyone that Kingdom Hearts exists when it released Kingdom Hearts Unchained X to the mobile platforms last week. According to Day Herald, the game takes place in an era before the Keyblade War. You would have to be playing the game to know what that is, but the Kingdom Hearts series is about a war between light and darkness, where darkness takes physical form and can attack. The Keyblade can give the player the power to fight against it.
One of reasons that the game might be getting so delayed is that Square Enix and Disney are having a difficult time working together. Those that play the Kingdom Hearts series know that Disney characters and worlds from various Disney intellectual properties is all part of the game, not to mention the Final Fantasy elements that show up, which is Square Enix's intellectual property. Although it is not known how much elements of Final Fantasy will show up in Kingdom Hearts 3, especially after the release of Final Fantasy 15 this year, Kingdom Hearts 3 could have a lot of Disney elements.
In fact, there have been all kinds of crazy rumors concerning Disney elements like world from the studio's hit computer generated films like Tangled, Big Hero 6, and even the recent Zootopia, still in theaters. It could be a question of what Disney is willing to give Square Enix access to. Considering that Disney's name is on the Kingdom Hearts 3 logo with Square Enix, the Mouse House is advertising within its game a lot.
There have been all kinds of rumors with scenarios with Disney properties. Some of them have said that Star Wars is going to be involved, as well as Marvel characters. Yes, Disney has the rights to both of those, but it is a stretch to believe that Iron Man, Darth Vader, and everything associated with those huge franchises will show up, any more than they would on ABC's Once Upon a Time.
So the release date for Kingdom Hearts 3 just depends on how much of the game is finished. Considering that there could be a lot going on behind the scenes with planning and developing what worlds Disney gives Square Enix access to, it could be a while.
