I did not join the fandom of Kingdom Hearts until after KH2 came out. Therefore I do not have many memories about what it was like leading up to the launch of KH2. When did surges of information come out in relation to the game's release. I'm talking world confirmations, in-depth trailers, etc. 12 months out? 6? 3? And can we use this history to try and place bets on when KH3 will come out in relation to getting big surges of information on the game?

This is Nomura. There is no rhyme or reason. 

It's a bit difficult as we are in a different time to when KH2 was doing its marketing push. KH2 had a reveal trailer at TGS 03 and then we heard nothing about the game at all until a year later in 04 when a new trailer showed up and then subsequently at the big events in 2005 we started getting more semi-regular stuff. But KH2 didn't have engine problems and a director who has work spanning over multiple big projects so it's a little different this time. That said if we have a release year by the end of this year for 2016 then both games would have ended up having similar 3 year developing/marketing cycles. Just depends on what happens at both D23's, TGS and Jump Festa this year.

KH3 is also on a much larger scale than KH2, along with the addition of HD graphics from the ground up.World announcements are an odd thing. Sometimes they'll make a big deal about them and have entire interviews & videos devoted to them, like Tangled. But then others are just dropped in a random trailer and not much is said about it, like Hercules.

i think too much has changed (marketing, development times, games in general) since KH2's release so using that as a basis for speculation on KH3's release might not be very helpful. 

Yeah, whilst that is a good idea of predicting the flow of news, you do have to think about how much has changed in the past few years with developing games. Things are done a bit differently and with KH news seems to come at unpredictable moments. For example (and please correct me if I'm wrong with any of this information, I tend to sometimes get things mixed up or occasionally make things up out of thin air ), we thought we were gonna get some stuff last year at E3 2014, but we ended up getting very little and then suddenly this year there's been LOADS of news recently, plus I dont think many people were expecting a confirmation of a KH appearance at the American D23 as well as the Japanese D23, and if I recall correctly there's also going to be a Kingdom Hearts event around the time of the Japanese D23 as well. Plus, we're bound to get that alleged release date that Nomura apparently has decided on soon enough anyway so the wait isnt too long now, all we can do now is sit back and enjoy the stream of news .

Kingdom Hearts was a lot more niche back then unlike now. The lore was easier to understand so it was easier to get new people into the series. As far as I can recall, they did have an official website for the game that displayed all the different Disney worlds and characters, but as far as marketing goes, Disney did little to nothing.

 

Now that Disney's creative management has changed, this game is at the forefront for both Square Enix and Disney hence the recent bustle of advertising.

Thanks for all the replies!

Yeah, whilst that is a good idea of predicting the flow of news, you do have to think about how much has changed in the past few years with developing games. Things are done a bit differently and with KH news seems to come at unpredictable moments. For example (and please correct me if I'm wrong with any of this information, I tend to sometimes get things mixed up or occasionally make things up out of thin air ), we thought we were gonna get some stuff last year at E3 2014, but we ended up getting very little and then suddenly this year there's been LOADS of news recently, plus I dont think many people were expecting a confirmation of a KH appearance at the American D23 as well as the Japanese D23, and if I recall correctly there's also going to be a Kingdom Hearts event around the time of the Japanese D23 as well. Plus, we're bound to get that alleged release date that Nomura apparently has decided on soon enough anyway so the wait isnt too long now, all we can do now is sit back and enjoy the stream of news .

 

I suppose the similarity between KH2 and KH3 you could argue is how unpredictably information has been released for both games during their marketing. I remember waiting and waiting for KH2 news and at the time no one knew if it would turn up at the big events and more importantly what they would show! The other thing I remember as well about KH2's release is that the Japan release date was announced at TGS 2005 in September...... for December....that is a gap of 2-3 months! For that to happen now would be crazy of course but back then I remember it felt wow thinking we would finally see the game release in just a few months. That won't happen now but both games have had streaks of unpredictability with the way Square and Nomura have released information and when.

 

 Also just a note, the Kingdom Hearts event for the Japan D23 is the only KH related thing at that time we will be getting information. I don't believe there is anything else during D23 Japan where that will happen since it will be mostly Disney and Disneyland-focused stuffs.

I suppose the similarity between KH2 and KH3 you could argue is how unpredictably information has been released for both games during their marketing. I remember waiting and waiting for KH2 news and at the time no one knew if it would turn up at the big events and more importantly what they would show! The other thing I remember as well about KH2's release is that the Japan release date was announced at TGS 2005 in September...... for December....that is a gap of 2-3 months! For that to happen now would be crazy of course but back then I remember it felt wow thinking we would finally see the game release in just a few months. That won't happen now but both games have had streaks of unpredictability with the way Square and Nomura have released information and when.

 

 Also just a note, the Kingdom Hearts event for the Japan D23 is the only KH related thing at that time we will be getting information. I don't believe there is anything else during D23 Japan where that will happen since it will be mostly Disney and Disneyland-focused stuffs.

Ah right I see, thanks for letting me know.