There are certain fandoms that are absolutely used to the “waiting game” when it comes to the next entries in the series. Yes, plenty of franchises have a “good clip” of releases, and if the games are quality, then no one bats an eye. Then, there are certain franchises that started out with a good release schedule, and then they suddenly drag on forever. Kingdom Hearts 4 was announced back in April of 2022, and many hoped that this would mean the game could get a “soon-ish” release date, especially since the reveal trailer showcased both cutscenes and gameplay.
However, since then, Square Enix has said very little about the game, leaving many to wonder if we’re having another KH3 scenario. If you don’t get the joke behind that one, the release of KH3 happened about 14 years after the 2nd main entry and seven years after the previous title on the 3DS. So, yeah, it was a bit of a wait, and fans are truly trying to avoid another long wait time like that.
However, in a new rumor from 4Chan, someone is claiming that Kingdom Hearts 4 won’t be released in 2025. They then go further on to say that it won’t even be released in 2026! If true, that would mean that this is yet another game that has gamers waiting for YEARS after its initial trailer just to get their hands on it.
So, what is the reason for the delay? According to them, the game was rebooted mid-production during 2023. If that’s the case, then that would indeed push things back to a certain degree and make a true release date impossible to guess. The source didn’t go into too many details about why the game was rebooted, but the source did claim that it was at Disney’s request. That would be odd, as Disney only lends its characters to the franchise but shouldn’t have the kind of “game development pull” to order a reboot unless things have changed within the deal between them and Square Enix.
The sad thing is that while we always say to be mindful of rumors like this, there’s very little to counter the accusation. Again, we haven’t seen or heard much about the game since its announcement in 2024. Sure, Tetsuya Nomura has promised certain things about the game, including that there is a true “endgame” in mind that this title would build toward, but that’s about it.
