Unveiled in Square Enix’s latest Financial Results brief was a roadmap for upcoming AAA projects from the legendary developer and publishing studio – Under the segment that talks about Square Enix’s currently in-development “HD Games”, their upcoming projects are listed.
Starting off with the launch of Octopath Traveler on July 13th 2018, then segwaying into the launch of Shadow of the Tomb Raider on September 14th 2018, the document then begins to outline their plans for Kingdom Hearts 3, along with a tentative “TBA 2018” release date; interestingly, the section where all this is mentioned expressly focuses on FY2019/3, otherwise known as Q4 2018 in non-financial records. For those of you who are totally in the blind, the Fiscal Year for 2018 in Japan runs from April 1st 2018 to March 31st 2019, leading to an average release date between October 1st 2018 – December 31st 2018 (Being Quarter 3 in the Fiscal Year calendar).
Interestingly, December 2018 marks the month where 13 years would have passed since Kingdom Hearts 2’s release in Japan, which fell on December 22, 2005, leading straight into the franchise’s many references to the number 13 (Or XIII).
The document then goes on to detail that more details regarding these three titles will be divulged at this year’s E3, falling in line with rumours of a release date announcement amongst the Kingdom Hearts community.
Of course, this timeframe isn’t final by any means, and can change; as Square Enix points out in the footer of the very same page:
“The plans, forecasts, strategies and ideas described in this material are descriptions of forecasts of future results. These descriptions rely on information available as of the date of production of this material and are based on assumptions and judgment made by the Company’s management. Readers are advised not to rely solely on these forecasts. Readers should also not assume that these forecasts are accurate or valid information, even after the date of public release. There are many factors that may cause actual results to vary considerably from the forecasts, and in some cases actual results may be inferior to forecasts.”
It’s certainly interesting to see that the long-awaited release date for Kingdom Hearts 3 could be just around the corner… Let us know your thoughts below!!
Want to read the Financial Brief for yourself? You can find it here: http://www.hd.square-enix.com/eng/news/pdf/18q4outline.pdf