Aquaberry

Square Enix have published their Financial Results statement for the fiscal year ending March 2019. According to this report, their net digital entertainment sales have amounted to ¥204,596 million* (6.9% more than the previous fiscal year) thanks to the release of new titles on home video game consoles, such as Kingdom Hearts III, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and Just Cause 4. However, profits have decreased due to the various expenses incurred in producing new games. Overall, Square Enix's operating income on digital entertainment this year was ¥29,062 million* (33.1% less than the previous year). The total sales for the company for the year ending March 2019 was ¥271,048 million* (8.2% more than the previous year). The total operating income was ¥24,531 million* (35.7% less than the previous year); their ordinary income amounted to ¥28,312 million* (21.6% less than the previous year). The statement also summarised the developments in sales and profits made on other categories of video game titles. The sales of many titles for smart devices and PC, released in the first half of this fiscal year and in the prior fiscal year, fell below expectations and failed to generate additional revenue on top of that from existing games. The net sales and operating income also decreased this year due to the decrease in licensing revenue. Net sales and operating income from online multiplayer games also decreased, but recurring subscription revenue remained brisk. Based on these results, the year-end dividend forecast for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2019, has been reduced from 43 yen to 37 yen. For the next fiscal year (April 1, 2019, to March 31, 2020), sales are expected to amount to ¥270 billion (0.4% less than the previous term), operating income to be ¥24 billion (2.2% less than the previous term), and ordinary income to be ¥24 billion (15.2% less than the previous term). UPDATE [May 13, 2019]: One of the strategies proposed at the briefing session to achieve mid-term goals to expand recurring income included maximizing earnings by deepening user engagement with offering various contents of major existing IP. Reporter Takashi Mochizuki reports that Kingdom Hearts III has sold high numbers, and that Square Enix is aiming to expand its sales via DLC. More figures and information can be found here. *Please note that these figures have been rounded to the nearest 1 million yen. View full article

You can now download Kingdom Hearts III manga wallpapers for desktop and smartphone from the Square Enix website for free! The Kingdom Hearts III manga is currently being serialized in Monthly Shonen Gangan, with Chapter 0 available to read online. Chapter 1 will release on May 23 (JST). Thanks to @RedMakuzawa for the tip! View full article

DisFunko, a popular and verified source for all new Funko, have revealed E3 2019 exclusives Sora (Lion Form) Pop! and Donald Duck POP+PEZ! You can see them below. The original tweet follows. E3 2019 will take place from June 11 to June 13 at the Los Angeles Convention Centre. Funko have also announced a new line of Hot Topic-exclusive Funko POP! Kingdom Hearts tees. Check them out here! UPDATE (June 12th, 2019): Funko POP! Kingdom Hearts Sora (Lion Form) and POP! Pez Donald Duck are now available at GameStop! Sora (Lion Form) is set for a price of $15,00 and Donald Pez will cost $4.99. View full article

The recent 1.04 and 1.05 updates for Kingdom Hearts III have brought changes to the game, such as changes in enemy AI, increased album storage to 200 photos, Frozen's Slider mini-game prizes appearing on the Gummiphone, check marks on synthesized items, and some bugs fixed. But the most important update was the addition of the Critical Mode, the highest level of difficulty known in the series. Tai Yasue, the co-director of Kingdom Hearts III, has recently been interviewed in-house at Square Enix about the new Critical Mode update for the game. He talks about what has been changed in the highest difficulty mode now available for Kingdom Hearts III, what new things have been added, and has given his top tips to survive the Mode as well as how to challenge yourself to the fullest. Give it a read below! As Yasue mentioned, in this new Critical mode, Sora's maximum HP and MP are halved. In addition to this, the frequency of situation commands and magic is also lowered. The new abilities that Sora can perform are the following: Critical Converter (1 AP) — “Green attraction indicators no longer appear, but filling the gauge always produces a formchange command. Indicators may still appear for certain battles.” Critical Counter (5 AP) — “Deal extra damage with reprisals by blocking right before an enemy attack lands.” Critical Recharge (3 AP) — “Fill situation command gauges more quickly while recharging MP.” Keyblades that are carried over will return to their base strength, but through this optional feature, players can utilize Keyblades otherwise not obtained until later in the game from the beginning. Another change that have been brought by the new updates is the addition of the Proof of Promise and the Proof of Times Past in the inventory." The Proof of Promise is described as “a certificate for those who have collected all of the luck from worlds over.” You can earn it by collecting photos of all 90 Lucky Emblems. The Proof of Times Past is described as “a certificate awarded to those who have endured the most difficult trial of them all," which you can earn when clearing the game on Critical Mode. Thanks to KH13 Staff and Contributor @Delenn Deszcz and @Chainoffire for contributing to this article! View full article

According to data assembled by NPD, North American sales of Kingdom Hearts III have exceeded the sales of any other games in the series, making in the best-selling game in the franchise in the country since the first game released in September 2002. Kingdom Hearts III has also been ranked the best-selling game of 2019 in the United States for the period ending March 2019. In Japan, Kingdom Hearts III has sold over 795,473 copies, and seems to be the best-selling game of 2019 in the country so far. Back in February, Kingdom Hearts III became the fastest selling game in the series, with over 5 million copies shipped in its first week of international release. Click here to read more statistics on the game! View full article

7PM PST, so in about 13 hours

Following last month's announcement of an official Kingdom Hearts III manga series by returning artist Shiro Amano, the "next issue notice" of Square Enix's magazine Monthly Shonen Gangan reveals that its serialization will start from April 24, 2019 (JST)! Fans will be able to read the "prologue" chapter this week on Square Enix's web magazine Gangan Online. UPDATE [Apr 23, 2019]: The first few pages will be in color. The manga will be serialized in the Monthly Shonen Gangan magazine as well as appearing on Gangan Online. Thanks to KH13 Staff @sololonlon for translations! UPDATE [Apr 25, 2019]: The serialization of the Kingdom Hearts III manga has been delayed to April 29, 2019. You can see images from the announcement and Gangan Online archives below. View full article

In the first three days since its Japan release, Kingdom Hearts III had no trouble topping the weekly video game sales chart in the country with over 600,000 copies, selling almost 2.5 times more copies than Resident Evil 2 in second place (which released on the same day). In the following week, commencing Monday, January 28, Kingdom Hearts III kept its number one position selling 91,019* more copies, adding to a cumulative 701,096* copies sold in Japan as of February 3. This includes both individual and bundled versions of the game. Kingdom Hearts III became the most downloaded game on the PlayStation Store in January despite releasing only 3 days before the end of the month. It was also the Players' Choice Winner of the month and the top PlayStation game in the Australian charts in its first week. It took the top spot in its first week also in video game sales in the UK. Square Enix have reported that the game sold more than 5 million copies worldwide within a week of its international release, including digitally and across all platforms, making it the fastest selling game in the series. Before its release, Kingdom Hearts III (PS4) was the most pre-ordered game on Amazon and remained the #1 bestseller entertainment software on the website until the end of the month. *This data was collected by Media Create. A higher cumulative number of copies sold is reported by Famitsu, who report that Kingdom Hearts III sold 81,795 copies in week commencing January 28, adding to a cumulative sales of 722,201. View full article

Famitsu, the most popular and respected video games magazine in Japan, have finally released their rating for Kingdom Hearts III! Previously, they had published two preliminary reviews for the game online. In the most recent issue that released on February 7, they published their rating of the game, summing up the score of four reviewers to 39/40. In the same issue, they also featured different gameplay elements from the game. You can read a translation of the reviews below, and take a look at the scans from the issue at the end of the article. Translations are courtesy of @Keytotruth. Read KH13's review of Kingdom Hearts III here! For more Kingdom Hearts news, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr, and check out the highlights on our Kingdom Hearts III master coverage! Recent Kingdom Hearts III news: - A special version of Dearly Beloved plays with Kingdom Hearts III Limited Edition PlayStation 4 Pro theme - Square Enix Cafe ARTNIA reveals the Kingdom Hearts III commemoration campaign menu - Kingdom Hearts III ships 5 million copies worldwide View full article

Those who were able to obtain the Kingdom Hearts III Limited Edition PlayStation 4 Pro can now listen to a special version of Dearly Beloved with its theme! This version of the staple track from the series seems to be the same that first plays during a certain cutscene in Kingdom Hearts III. Fan xenosaga7 has uploaded a sample of the track. You can check it out in the video below. View full article