Was it? It had been in development for at least two years by that point and they had already made the change to Unreal Engine 5.
KH3 had them learn an entirely new engine part way through development but this time they understand it.
KH3 had them learn an entirely new engine part way through development but this time they understand it.
the showcase we got was prior, it was still using a lot of highly scripted stuff with many placeholder parkour animations from 3. felt very much like it was just an early demo for what they wanted to go for, which is the kind of thing they whip up short term for kingdom hearts game announcements before coming back later with the proper reveal.
when we see it again it will probably look notably different! and you'll also probably start seeing the game more regularly, as more of it on a core level will be presentable
The trailer was recorded on UE4, but what I meant was that by the time we got the trailer, development had already transitioned to UE5. Nomura did an interview saying that in April 2022. I wasn't saying the trailer was in UE5, sorry for the confusion.
But my point is, after they got the very impressive Rebirth out the door in 4-5 years, I don't see why they can't have done the same for KH4 by 2025 when it's with an engine they know, with Epic supporting them.
well... the thing about rebirth is that it is reusing a lot of assets and groundwork from FF7 part 1, as it's very much intended to be a direct sequel to that game, iterating on what it did and improving it. of course, it's absolutely massive and introduced a lot of new systems, so it is very possible?
honestly, thinking about it, i don't think we're gonna be able to say too much here until they showcase the game again. after that we're gonna have a pretty good idea of where we're at
man i swear once they do show KH4 again people are gonna be very surprised with how far long it is.
Like some people just think about how long KH3 took and don't consider that things have changed and they didn't announce KH4 like right when it was started development.
Like some people just think about how long KH3 took and don't consider that things have changed and they didn't announce KH4 like right when it was started development.
Late 2025 is theoretically realistic, but a little hard for me to take seriously since we haven't seen a real, in-engine trailer.
If they release a trailer in a couple months running on UE5 and it doesn't look scripted then yeah, I'd completely believe it. 5 years is enough time to get a game out.
If they release a trailer in a couple months running on UE5 and it doesn't look scripted then yeah, I'd completely believe it. 5 years is enough time to get a game out.
Yeah 26 is too soon. I am still personally assuming its done by CBU3 and will be a bit faster developed than 16 (no covid, engine already exists etc.). So maybe 27/28. 4-5 years of devtime.
I think they could definitely get it out by late 2025, but 2026 seems more realistic to me.
It does seem like SE might not have a big project lined up for 2025 if this doesn't make it next year though, so who knows. FFIX Remake might be next year, but sounds like that will be a much more conservative title.
It does seem like SE might not have a big project lined up for 2025 if this doesn't make it next year though, so who knows. FFIX Remake might be next year, but sounds like that will be a much more conservative title.
To be honest, I very much expect KH4 to be largely the same situation as the bolded. I'm hoping it is as well. Re:Mind combat is great jumping off point to build upon.
I certainly don't think it'll be as different as, say, mainline numbered FFs are from eachother. I think if it is, that'd be a very dumb decision.
Honestly? its a little bit of an exaggeration, but I do suspect it'll still be a few years before we see anything about it. This is Nomura we're talking about, and Disney to boot. Nomura loves to change his mind and insist on whole new directions for games. And Disney is very fickle with what IP's they let others use. Rumor has it that KH worlds are basically always in flux because Disney keeps changing its mind.
That's a combination that spells mega delays.
It took 5 years and at least one engine change to go from the announcement of 3 to its release. I imagine at minimum it'll be 5 years before we can even think about playing 4, which is 2027. On top of whatever delay happens because of the mobile game, which is also facing its own delays.
I would assume so. SE has been pretty good about having one core entry a year in its main franchises through the 2020s so far. Unless there's a Dragon Quest I don't know about KH4 is the next game on the docket before we start looking towards FF XVII and Remake part 3.
I think I remember seeing the logo now that I think about it. I would say 50/50 whether it or KH4 releases first.
I agree with the sentiment that 4 is closer than people think. Square finally shed its disastrous decade and a half foray into engine development that completely screwed KH3, FF XIII and XV and seems to have reestablished a functional production pipeline like Bamco and Capcom have.
Is the Nomura thing built from when he said he thought about turning Versus XIII into a musical because he saw Les Mis? Because other than that I don't know where him changing his mind and insisting on a whole new direction comes from, because I've not seen anything like that affect Kingdom Hearts.
Not sure where that rumour about Disney came from either. They suggest worlds, Nomura suggests worlds, then they work back and forth on establishing the look, handing over data and references, getting in contact with the voice actors, etc. Worlds get cut, but that's the same of any project.
Nomura did say the process took a little longer with Disney for KH3 than previous games because they had the creatives who made the movies still at Disney so things had to be on point (I remember eye lines were an important thing for Square Enix to get right) but all that paid off in the end since the game is gorgeous and replicated the look and feel of the movies so well. They have that experience and carried that forward with them to KH4.
Is 5 years of development a bad thing? I thought it was about the standard for an AAA game this time. And you seem to be counting 5 years since announcement instead of 5 years since development started (2020).
I said earlier, they've started development of KH4 with an engine already in place, one they know, and then upgraded to the next version of it. KH3 started with them doing gameplay tests in UE3, tried Luminous, then scrapped that and retooled for UE4 in October 2014. It was in development until it went gold in November 2018. KH4 has been in development for over 4 years now. If they take another 3 like you suggested, then that shows there's some deeper issues within Square Enix, especially when compared to Rebirth's timeline, and how confident they are that Part 3 can be developed in the same time frame.
I don't think they'd have KH4 be beholden to the release of a mobile game either, it's like saying Rebirth should have waited for Ever Crisis to have done the First Soldier storyline before releasing. Besides, Missing-Link is about to have a beta test this week and it is coming this year. I don't think it will last long but I really don't think a mobile game will hold KH4 up.
Nomura has a lot of issues with his managerial style, but that is the story I do love pointing to. Versus 13/ 15 spent a long time in development, and it wasn't just due to Nomura wanting it to be a musical. Lots of general mismanagement with the product. My memory states that the game sat in Pre-Production for something along the lines of 7 years? You could argue that was due to Nomura wearing too many hats and being in charge of too many different projects (which I think would be fair) but it still points to a director that loves to change his mind. Does this inherently mean KH will have the same issue? No, but I wouldn't be surprised given Nomura's track record.
Disney however has a much more consistent history of being really difficult to work with. Just ask Capcom.
I'm using the only date we know for sure, which is when it was announced. I am aware that dev supposedly started in 2020, but given the era that is COVID, and the amount of other projects just in general in development at Squeenix, I would not be surprised if my guess of 2027 is still correct. Big games take a long time to develop. I'm not saying more dev time is bad or anything, I just really dislike the trend of announcing something way to early before its ready to be announced. (See Mass Effect for this, since its unlikely we will actually get to play that until 2028 or later. It was just announced WAY too early) I would prefer that something is announced then released within a single calendar year, maybe 2
Which leads me to my main point, I just assume this was announced way to early. It was expected the Mobile game would be out earlier I imagine, but they ran into development issues with it. Do I think that Nomura is actually going to delay the game due to the mobile game not being finished? No, but I wouldn't be surprised if KH4 was sitting in pre-production for a while as Nomura and Co were working on FF7 stuff and the mobile title, among who knows what other things Nomura is in charge of that we don't know about.
In truth, I would LOVE for it to be out earlier than that. I've been a die hard KH fan since 2004. I want to see what's next for this crazy series. I just don't believe we should get our hopes up. I will believe a release date of 2025 when I am holding the game in my hands.
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