'Kingdom Hearts 3' Release Date Has Been Delayed Due To 'Final Fantasy XV' Release

"Kingdom Hearts 3" release date is delayed, find out why. http://kingdomhearts.com/

New information regarding "Kingdom Hearts 3" has been heard to come by, most likely because the production has coming to a screeching halt! Square Enix released the first teaser trailer for the highly anticipated game during the 2013 Electronic Entertainment Expo, but since then we haven't heard much regarding the production and development, although the recent release date news is far from encouraging.

Tetsuya Nomura has committed his impressive talents to serve as game director for both "Kingdom Hearts 3" and "Final Fantasy XV". Many fans of the video game series considered how exactly Nomura was going to spilt his time in order to develop both games. Well, it seems that in actuality Nomura does not spilt his time between the two games, instead in the recent months he has solely focused on "Final Fantasy XV" indicating that "Kingdom Hearts 3" could be facing a substantial release date delay.

"Kingdom Hearts 3" producer Shinji Hashimoto confirmed the lack of production on the game in a recent interview with IGN. Hashimonto stated that due to the focus on "Final Fantasy XV" there was simply no way to navigate around a delayed release date for "Kingdom Hearts 3." And due to the success of the "Final Fantasy" series, more bad news may be on the way. Nomura has already hinted at the possibility of a sequel to the next numerical entry in the "Final Fantasy" franchise, however, it is still unclear whether its production would take precedent to "Kingdom Hearts 3." In another interview with IGN, Nomura himself confirmed the release of the game and cited the achingly slow process, saying that Kingdom Hearts 3 "is still pretty early in development."

Considering these factors, it seems unlikely that "Kingdom Hearts 3" will be appearing on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One any earlier than 2015, and even this two-year waiting period is optimistic because one must consider that the 2014 release date of "Final Fantasy XV" has yet to be confirmed. With Nomura being a very hands-on game director it seems more likely that we will not see the next installment of "Kingdom Hearts" for a few years. With the "Final Fantasy" series seemingly taking precedent, Hashimoto is urging fans to have patience.

"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," the Kingdom Hearts 3 producer told IGN, adding, "But please, we need you all to understand that there's a lot to do." I'm sure it will only feel like pouring salt in a wound, but if you want a sneak peek of "Kingdom Hearts 3" check out the teaser trailer below!