The fanbase for Kingdom Hearts 3 is large and the game hasn’t even been released yet. There are only a handful of information available, as well as some teasers and trailers for the third major installment to the Kingdom Hearts franchise. There isn’t even a concrete release date announced for the game. Recently, new reports have claimed that the delay of the third installment was primarily due to Final Fantasy XV.
Final Fantasy XV is the Reason Why Kingdom Hearts 3 is Being Pushed Back
As per a report from University Herald, Kingdom Hearts 3 might be delayed yet again, much of the dismay of fans of the popular Square Enix franchise. The title will be pushed back to 2017 as the developers prepares for the release of another title that is also highly anticipated, Final Fantasy XV, which is slated to be released on the 30th of September this year. The 15th major installment for the Final Fantasy series is said to be already ten years in the making, and it is high time that it does get a proper release.
Perhaps Square Enix is prioritizing Final Fantasy 15 as they do not want the competition to broil against the two highly-anticipated titles. Should they release Kingdom Hearts III along with Final Fantasy 15, then gamers might be caught in the middle. Players would then have a hard time choosing what to play first should the two games be released at almost the same dates.
This approach is not at all surprising as Bandai Namco also did the same thing with their Tekken and Street Fighter crossover game, which is simply called Tekken X Street Fighter. Parent Herald had reported that the team stopped the development of said fighting game because Capcom had just recently released Street Fighter V.
“When we develop fighting games, we try to keep the core community in mind as well as the wider audience that wants to play these games. We don’t want to split these communities, so a good window in which to release Tekken x Street Fighter is something that’s become difficult recently. So it’s on hold for the moment,” Katsuhiro Harada, Tekken 7 producer, told GameSpot.
It is clear that Square Enix is looking at the same perspective as that of Bandai Namco with the release of Kingdom Hearts 3 and Final Fantasy XV. Therefore, fans of the third major installment of the Kingdom Hearts series should just sit tight and keep their patience.