Series creator Tetsuya Nomura was in attendance at the Kingdom Hearts Orchestra - World Tour - concert in London last week (you can read all about our coverage of the event here) and the KH13 team was able to score an exclusive interview with him, where we asked him about the fifteen anniversary of the series and the elusive production status of the upcoming Kingdom Hearts III! You can read it below.
KH13 Thank you for sitting down with us today, Nomura.
Nomura The pleasure is all mine.
KH13 March 28th will mark the fifteenth anniversary of when the original Kingdom Hearts game first released in Japan. How does it feel to have reached this milestone?
Nomura It is truly surprising. It feels like just yesterday when Disney gave my team the greenlight to create a work mingling together their iconic characters with the cast of Final Fantasy and our own creations. In fact, I can’t believe they’re still allowing us to do it all these years later. *laughs*
KH13 Did you imagine the game, and this series, would have such a lasting impact?
Nomura No, not at all! *laughs* I don’t know what people see in this series.
KH13 As 2017 is a special year for the franchise, you and Square Enix have made it clear that you have big plans in store, and the celebration kicked off at the start of the year with the launch of Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 -Final Chapter Prologue-, which included the short 0.2 Birth by Sleep -A Fragmentary Passage- title that ties directly into the beginning of Kingdom Hearts III.
Nomura We’re aware fans have been waiting a long time for Kingdom Hearts III, so we wanted to let them know that their requests have been heard and give them a taste of the upcoming adventure with 0.2 Birth by Sleep, which was made using the same engine used for Kingdom Hearts III’s development. Plus, we can take advantage of them and charge them a full ￥6,800 for just a few hours of gameplay, so it’s really mutually beneficial.
KH13 Earlier this month, PlayStation 4 versions of Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 and 2.5 ReMIX launched in Japan, presenting the Kingdom Hearts games in stunning 60 fps for the first time. Our readers have been wondering if there are any plans to port these to the Xbox platform since Kingdom Hearts III is coming to Xbox One as well.
Nomura What’s an Xbox?
<After this, Nomura conferred with his translator, also a Square Enix representative, for a few seconds before the representative had this to say.>
SQUARE ENIX Representative Square Enix has no plans to throw Xbox players a bone at this time.
KH13 Kingdom Hearts Union χ[cross] also just launched in Japan this past month. What can players expect from this expansion?
Nomura We are finally getting into the meat of theKingdom Hearts χ[chi] story. It’s the part I’ve wanted to tell for a long time, and I’m glad we can finally get it out to a large audience on mobile devices, so please be excited.
KH13 We couldn’t help but notice that Ventus of all characters showed up in the announcement trailer for Union χ[cross]. Can you give us any hints as to what his role will be?
Nomura Yes, the purpose of his appearance is to complicate the timeline further.
KH13 The Kingdom Hearts Orchestra concerts have been touring worldwide—we just finished one right now! They’ve been playing short voice clips at the start of each concert focusing on specific characters, and we’ve been wondering if you have any plans to make these snippets available to fans who are unable to attend them.
Nomura We’ll probably stick them in 2018’s HD collection.
KH13
Nintendo's latest home console system, the Nintendo Switch, also launched earlier this month. Wow, there seem to be a lot of gaming releases happening this month! The Switch's main selling point, of course, is that it can switch between TV modes and handheld modes seamlessly, allowing you play games on the big screen and on the go. What are your thoughts on the hardware, and can you see yourself developing Kingdom Hearts games for the platform?
Nomura
I've spent time with Nintendo's Switch and it is a very interesting piece of technology that I would be happy to develop software for. As for putting a Kingdom Hearts game on it, we do not have any plans at this moment, but it wouldn't be out of the ordinary for us to release a spin-off game on it sometime in the future, that we will retcon into being an important part of the overall series story later on.
KH13 The long-awaited Final Fantasy XV was released in November of last year. Obviously you weren’t involved in development during its final phase but given that you originally created the characters and came up with the scenario, how does it feel knowing that this project you invested many years in is finally out in the wild?
Nomura It feels terrible because Tabata is a hack. *laughs* I’m just kidding; Tabata and his team worked many long hours to get the game into the hands of the fans and I congratulate them on their success. The release of Final Fantasy XV has even inspired me as well; I plan to release Kingdom Hearts III in an incomplete state and patch in cutscenes and offer story DLC afterward.
KH13 We know it’s a long shot, but… can we expect Kingdom Hearts III’s release this year?
Nomura Don’t count on it. *laughs*
KH13 What about Final Fantasy VII Remake?
SQUARE ENIX Representative This interview is now over.
Series creator Tetsuya Nomura was in attendance at the Kingdom Hearts Orchestra - World Tour - concert in London last week (you can read all about our coverage of the event here) and the KH13 team was able to score an exclusive interview with him, where we asked him about the fifteen anniversary of the series and the elusive production status of the upcoming Kingdom Hearts III! You can read it below.
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Edited by J. Severe