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Kingdom Hearts III Director Hints at Switch Version & Second Playable Character

Square Enix shared some surprise news about the long-awaited Kingdom Hearts III at Disney’s D23 Expo yesterday by revealing a Toy Story world and a release window of 2018 with a new gameplay trailer. Then, speaking to IGN, game director Tetsuya Nomura teased a Switch version of the title, as well as a second playable character.

The D23 trailer showed Kingdom Hearts III coming to PS4 and Xbox One sometime in 2018 with no mention of the market’s other major console, the Nintendo Switch. Nomura said a Switch version of the game has not been dismissed, but it won’t happen until after the current versions are completed.

“The Nintendo Switch is definitely a very interesting piece of hardware, but if we lightly say, ‘Oh yeah, we’ll be on the Nintendo Switch,’ I’m sure people will come back and say, ‘But what about the PS4 and Xbox One? We want them out first. Don’t focus on other platforms,’ ” Nomura explained. “So for now, we want to focus on what platforms we’ve already announced we’re going to be releasing Kingdom Hearts III on. And so after, perhaps, maybe we can start thinking about other possibilities.”

Nomura also didn’t rule out the possibility of HD remasters of older Kingdom Hearts titles for Xbox One, but he restated the team’s desire to focus on the current Kingdom Hearts III production before thinking about other projects.

As for the second playable character, it’d be a first for the series. Kingdom Hearts games let you play only as Sora but allow for other party members to join you in battle.

In another IGN piece, Nomura hinted that Sora will not be the only playable character the upcoming game.

“So it would be tough to introduce many, multiple playable characters, but there is an intention of adding a playable character aside from Sora. Unfortunately we’re not able to disclose who it is yet, but there will be [another playable character].”

Who do you think the second playable character could be? Let us know in the comments below!

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Mischa McGill

Mischa grew up with video games and still has a deep love for many - especially fun, colorful RPGs. Some of her favorites include Pokémon, Animal Crossing, Pikmin, Fantasy Life, Kingdom Hearts, Skyrim, Civilization V, and Stardew Valley. She loves nights in with her boyfriend cooking Mexican food, watching Studio Ghibli movies, and going head-to-head in their favorite games. Mischa might not beat you in Super Smash Bros, but she owns a replica of Arwen’s sword and Hermione’s wand, so... don’t rub it in too much.