The 20th anniversary of Kingdom Hearts is coming in two years, and rumor has it that series co-creator Tetsuya Nomura has a new game planned to celebrate the milestone. Square Enix’s epic Final Fantasy/Disney crossover RPG franchise may have concluded its main storyline in 2019’s Kingdom Hearts III, but that hasn’t stopped the series from continuing through spin-off titles and supplementary content in the year or so since.
First came the additional Kingdom Hearts III DLC expansion Re:Mind back in January, which provided additional context to the game’s somewhat cryptic ending and an intriguing hint as to where the series might go in the future. Then there was Kingdom Hearts: Dark Road, an add-on to the Kingdom Hearts: Union χ mobile game that revealed the origin of longtime series antagonist Master Xehanort. Furthermore, a new rhythm game spin-off called Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory is in the works for a November release, which promises to pick up where the end of Kingdom Hearts III: ReMind left off as series mainstay Kairi searches for the missing Sora within a world of memories (and a few classic Disney musical numbers).
Now, Kingdom Hearts’ legendary architect Tetsuya Nomura has hinted that more could be on the horizon for the series’ anniversary in 2022. Yesterday, Twitter user aitaikimochi posted a translation of a Japanese interview Nomura did with Famistu. When asked if he had any further Kingdom Hearts plans in the foreseeable future, Nomura points out that the 20th anniversary in coming in the next two years, and that he and his team are already shifting their focus to the next installment in the series.
Kingdom Hearts isn’t the only long-running video game franchise to reach a critical milestone as of late. Last week, Nintendo celebrated the 35th anniversary of its ever-popular Super Mario franchise with a special Nintendo Direct stream that contained several exciting announcements. Additionally, Mario’s longtime platforming rival Sonic the Hedgehog is set to turn 30 next year, and Sega has promised to reveal some new games in honor of the celebration.
There is still no word on what exactly Tetsuya Nomura’s teasing regarding his plans for Kingdom Hearts’ 20th anniversary means, nor any details about what the storyline for this new game will be or what systems it will be available on. Still, the world of Kingdom Hearts is ripe for new stories by its very nature. The previous games have left numerous plot threads unresolved, and there are still plenty of Disney properties to be mined for new levels and cameo appearances (cough, Zootopia, cough). Fans will surely welcome a new installment in the long-running Kingdom Hearts series, and it's only a matter of time before more developments unfold ahead of the franchise's 20th anniversary in 2022.
Source: aitakimochi/Twitter