Kingdom Hearts is one in every of 9 billion-dollar franchises Disney has below its online game banner.
The information comes forward of a hotly anticipated panel at D23, the place Disney is predicted to speak about Kingdom Hearts 4.
In a blog post, Disney stated its Disney Video games Group portfolio “spans 9 billion-dollar franchises together with Kingdom Hearts and Marvel Strike Power.” Greater than half of those billion-dollar franchises have come out within the final 12 years.
Disney video games have pushed an estimated $3.5 billion in client spend yearly for the previous 4 years — and crossed $4 billion this previous fiscal 12 months, Disney stated. That features all Marvel video games, all Star Wars video games, certainly all video games primarily based on any Disney IP, of which there are a lot of.
Upcoming Disney video games embrace Marvel’s Wolverine, from Insomniac, the Iron Man recreation from EA’s Motive, and Star Wars Eclipse from Quantic Dream, though there may be a cloud hanging over the latter. In the meantime, Disney can also be the rights holder for Respawn’s Star Wars Jedi 3, Inventive Meeting’s Alien: Isolation 2, and Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra.
Kingdom Hearts’ title on Disney’s billion-dollar checklist maybe comes as a shock, given how few mainline entires have been launched since Kingdom Hearts launched in 2002 for the PlayStation 2. It suggests Kingdom Hearts video games actually do promote effectively, and goes some solution to explaining the anticipation for Kingdom Hearts 4.
Talking of which, a livestream of the ‘DEEP DIVE into KINGDOM HEARTS panel at D23’ will likely be out there on August 15 at 4.30pm PT / 7.30pm ET / August 16 at 12.30am UK time. Disney stated it would supply a “behind-the-scenes look at the making of the video games,” nevertheless it’s who’s on the panel that has followers excited for what’s now anticipated information on Kingdom Hearts 4.
The panel company are Nana Gadd from Disney & Pixar Video games, Tai Yasue from Sq. Enix, Haley Joel Osment, who voices Sora, David Gallagher, who voices Riku, and Renée Johnson, who’s behind the Disney character voices. With a panel like that (Yasue is believed to be co-director of Kingdom Hearts 4), you’d prefer to assume we’ll get one thing on the hotly anticipated sequel.
Kingdom Hearts 4 made a shock look at the June 2026 Nintendo Direct to disclose a first look at gameplay years after the sport itself was introduced. In a separate publish, Sq. Enix confirmed that Kingdom Hearts 4 will launch concurrently for PC by way of Epic Video games Retailer and Steam, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Collection X and S, in addition to Nintendo Swap 2.
“A brand new installment within the motion role-playing sequence developed and printed by Sq. Enix, Kingdom Hearts 4 offers followers a look at a number of the characters that protagonist Sora will meet within the mysterious metropolis of Quadratum,” an official description for the sport stated. “Sora will as soon as once more journey to realms, the place new figures cross his path and new powers awaken his subsequent chapter. Kingdom Hearts 4 will likely be out there at launch on Nintendo Swap 2.”
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Discover him on Twitter at @wyp100. You possibly can attain Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.