While plenty of details about Kingdom Hearts 4 were revealed during D23 2026, in an interview with Famitsu (via VGC), directors Tetsuya Nomura and Tai Yasue have said that fans will have to wait for a while before more is revealed. While the two said that they are sticking to the planned late 2027 release window for the game, the team itself is busy working on the final stages of development.
“The release is still scheduled for late next year, and the development team is in the final stages, so we’ll be focusing on that for a while,” said Nomura. “We’re currently considering when to release the next information, so there will likely be a bit of a gap.”
“As for information on Kingdom Hearts 4, we’ve started to release some serious information this time, but we’ll be releasing more information gradually, so please look forward to further updates.”
That’s not to say that there is nothing planned in the meantime, however. Nomura teased that the company will do something for the 25th anniversary of the Kingdom Hearts franchise. “Also, there will be something planned for next year’s 25th anniversary, so please look forward to that announcement.” In the meantime, Yasue has confirmed that the English voice acting for the title is around 60 to 70 percent completed.
The D23 showcase for Kingdom Hearts 4 revealed that one of the Disney worlds that players can explore in the upcoming title will be The Land of the Dead from Coco. During a deep dive panel, Nomura said that the decision to go with this world was because of how well it suited Sora’s story.
“Whenever I do have a chance to decide that we absolutely need to include a certain world. I generally think about how well it synergizes with the overall main story progression with Sora. When it comes to Kingdom Hearts 4, when I thought about the themes, we felt that Coco would be the best world that would help achieve that goal.”
During the same panel, Nomura also spoke about how there were no plans to push back the release of Kingdom Hearts 4. “We announced that the game is going to be coming late 2027, and I saw online that some people were saying, ‘oh, you know, maybe the actual release date might still get pushed back’,” he said.
“I just wanted to set the record straight – that is not happening. So I do hope people look forward to the game coming in 2027. A lot of the marketing for the game has only just started, and so I do hope that people also look forward to hearing more news as well.”
Kingdom Hearts 4 is being developed for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch 2. The title will pick up the story of Sora being stuck in the Quadratum, and will feature many of the various Disney worlds. Along with Coco, one of the trailers also featured the Underworld from Disney’s Hercules. Mickey Mouse is also set to play a major role in the story.
