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GamesCom 2016: Why Square Enix Is Focusing On ‘Kingdom Hearts 2.8’ And Not ‘Kingdom Hearts 3’ Right Now

By Bryan Star
Published on: 08:55 PST, Jul 31, 2016

With GamesCom 2016 right around the corner, fans are anxiously awaiting what news is in store for gaming.

GamesCom is held every year at the Koelnmesse in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Fans and developers alike gather to discuss the latest and greatest in gaming, and this year looks to be quite promising. Multiple developers have begun to discuss the line-up that they plan to bring to the table, and among them is Square Enix.

Square Enix is easily recognizable as a developer behind some of the greatest video games to have launched over the last few years. Final Fantasy XV is set to release on September 30, and Kingdom Hearts 3 is also somewhere in the mix. However, Square Enix’s line-up for Gamescom is lacking anything regarding Kingdom Hearts 3. Instead, we see that their only focus in regards to Sora and friends will be Kingdom Hearts 2.8, a game that brings Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance to the PlayStation 4.

Fans might be wondering why Square Enix has decided to keep a lid on all things Kingdom Hearts 3 for now. Luckily, game director Tai Yasue revealed some information that might explain Square Enix’s choice. In a report by The Bit Bag, Yasue is said to be concentrating on Kingdom Hearts 2.8 for plot purposes.

Yasue first weighed in on the Kingdom Hearts story as a whole, explaining the purpose of making ports of previous games and bringing them to current generation consoles.

“The story is very complex. There’s a lot of threads. Right now we’re sort of depicted the Dark Seeker side, and all the portables as well. We wanted — when we were planning for Kingdom Hearts III, we wanted all of our previous Kingdom Hearts titles in HD so everyone could play them again, and new players could be introduced to the Kingdom Hearts series story.”

Yasue went on to explain that Kingdom Hearts 2.8 would be released to fans at the beginning of the December. Because of this, it made more sense to leave Kingdom Hearts 3 on a shelf of sorts.

“It was a difficult decision for us. We want to share as much as possible. We’re excited about Kingdom Hearts III. But II.8 we’re releasing globally at the beginning of December. We wanted to concentrate on that first. We want what’s best for the moment. We’re currently making III and 2.8 at the same time, but we wanted to concentrate on 2.8 right now.”

It makes sense that Kingdom Hearts 2.8 get the exposure that explains its place in the story. After all, multiple spin-offs have been released in regards to the overall story. Some fans have been denied the opportunity to play the entirety of the Kingdom Hearts games due to some titles being released on handhelds, so this would be the best time to play through such games with them being ported to the PlayStation 4. After all, it’s said to be the final chapter’s prologue.

Will we see more information regarding Kingdom Hearts 3 any time soon? It doesn’t appear to be likely. Reception to what’s been revealed so far has been mixed, though Square Enix seems to be making changes to Kingdom Hearts 3 that would suggest that the adventure is going to be as unique as fans have come to know and love. A report by GamingBolt shows the entire line-up by Square Enix for 2016, so there certainly won’t be a lack of content for players to occupy themselves with in the meantime.

How do you feel about there being no Kingdom Hearts 3 information at Gamescom? Do you think this was a smart move by Square Enix? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.

[Image Via Square Enix]

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