At the Disney D23 Convention in Anaheim, Square Enix unveiled a new trailer for Kingdom Hearts IV – answering several long-awaited questions. The game is officially set to release "late 2027," and for the first time, a Switch 2 version was also confirmed. Additionally, Disney announced a standalone Kingdom Hearts anime series.
When Will Kingdom Hearts IV Be Released and For Which Platforms?
The new trailer officially confirms the "late 2027" release window at its conclusion – a precise date is still not available. Confirmed platforms include PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC (Steam and Xbox App), and for the first time, Nintendo Switch 2. This marks the first time a main installment in the series will be released simultaneously on a Nintendo console alongside other platforms, rather than arriving years later like previous entries.
What Does the New Kingdom Hearts IV Trailer Show?
The trailer's focus is on the new Disney world centered around Pixar's Coco: Among other things, Miguel and Papá Héctor are shown in a musical sequence, as well as initial gameplay snippets from the Land of the Dead world. This is the clearest confirmation yet that Kingdom Hearts IV will integrate several new Pixar and Disney worlds into Sora's story.
In parallel, Disney confirmed a brand-new Kingdom Hearts anime series for Disney+, which, according to the announcement, is being produced in collaboration with series director Tetsuya Nomura and Square Enix. It aims to retell the events of the game series in TV show format. A release date for the anime has not yet been announced.
We previously reported that Disney classifies the brand as a "billion-dollar franchise" – our report on the announcement before the D23 panel can be found here. Official information about the series and the game is aggregated by Square Enix on the official Kingdom Hearts website and in the Square Enix press portal.
Why is the Release Window So Significant for Kingdom Hearts Fans?
Kingdom Hearts III was released in 2019, after a good 13-year wait since Part II. Kingdom Hearts IV was already announced in 2022 for the series' 20th anniversary, but since then, there have only been sporadic new trailers and hardly any concrete dates. An officially confirmed release window – complete with all relevant platforms announced at once – is therefore an unusually big step for a series known in the past for very long development cycles and scattered platform exclusivity. From our perspective, the parallel anime series, in particular, demonstrates that Disney and Square Enix now aim to build Kingdom Hearts as an independent brand beyond just the gaming business, similar to what Sony has recently done with several of its own franchises.
Source: Nintendo Life, IGN
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