Kingdom Hearts 3 Release Date 2015: Version 2.5 Will Launch First in 2014
It's been nine years since the release of Kingdom Hearts 2 for the PlayStation 2 and fans have been awaiting a sequel since then. Square Enix has now announced that Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix will be released in December this year, with Kingdom Hearts 3 also on the way.
The game's co-director, Tai Yasue, said that they were developing both Kingdom Hearts 2.5 and Kingdom Hearts 3 at the same time. This may seem like the development for KH 2.5 is impeding the progress of KH 3 but Yasue said that it was not the case.
"We were actually developing Kingdom Hearts III and 2.5 at the same time, and it's very difficult. There was a point where we wanted to switch our resources to Kingdom Hearts III and get that moving faster," Yasue told GameInformer.
"We've been working full throttle. It's moving along. We structured out team in a way that development of 2.5 doesn't impede Kingdom Hearts 3. I'm actually very excited about Kingdom Hearts III," he added.
Fans were anticipating a trailer for Kingdom Hearts III during the Electronic Entertainment Expo a few months ago but they were left disappointed when none was shown during the conference. Yasue explained that they wanted to get out Kingdom Hearts 2.5 first so that players would get a better understanding of the story before Kingdom Hearts 3 came out.
He added that making trailers and teasers required a lot of work and that they really wanted to get the development of Kingdom Hearts 2.5 and 3 moving.
It's been nearly a decade since Kingdom Hearts 2 came out, so some fans doubted that a sequel would come at all. Square Enix only announced last year that they are working on a sequel and an HD remaster of Kingdom Hearts 2.
Square Enix has not completely forgotten about the franchise, regularly releasing spin-offs further explaining the story behind the Kingdom Hearts universe. The company released a remastered version of the first game, Kingdom Hearts 1.5, for PS3 in 2013.
