‘Kingdom Hearts III’ Delayed Because Of ‘Final Fantasy XV’

Kingdom Hearts series producer Shinji Hashimoto has announced that the newest game in the franchise has been delayed because of another franchise installment — Final Fantasy XV.

“So at E3 this year we announced Kingdom Hearts III and Final Fantasy XV. Both have Tetsuya Nomura as their director, so we can’t create these two big games at the same time,” Hashimoto told IGN. “It’s a difficult job, as we want each game to be perfect in terms of quality.”

Hashimoto explained that Square Enix decided to announceKingdom Hearts III because it felt it was time to address speculation about the long-awaited third entry.

“A lot of people have wondered for the last couple of years if Square Enix has actually been working on Kingdom Hearts III; that’s why we announced it at E3 this year,” he said. “But please, we need you all to understand that there’s a lot to do.”

Presently, there is no word on where Kingdom Hearts III is in the development process.

While Kingdom Hearts III is technically the eighth installment in the franchise, it concludes the “Xehanort Saga,” but will not be the final game in the series, according to Testsuya Nomura.

“As a core game, this is finally the third, and 10 years have passed. I couldn’t call this a trilogy. There have been so many spin-offs,” Nomura told the Los Angeles Times in July. “In Kingdom Hearts III, the battles that the characters have been fighting for the past 10 years will come to a conclusion. That is the plan.”

Nomura added, “But the series will continue. Only the particular enemy they have been fighting the past 10 years will come to an end.”

The last proper sequel, Kingdom Hearts II, was released in 2005. Since then, a number of spinoffs have been released for handheld consoles, including the most recent, Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance.