Tetsuya Nomura confirms that more Kingdom Hearts news is expected to drop next year in line with the series’ 25th Anniversary. The celebration is expected to bring new announcements for fans of the franchise.
Kingdom Hearts is Alive, as Game Director Brings Good News
Tetsuya Nomura Drops New Kingdom Hearts Art
Kingdom Hearts’ creator and director, Tetsuya Nomura, shared a cryptic new artwork on social media in line with the game’s 24th anniversary.
The artwork features what appears to be an unknown character (possibly a younger Xehanort) holding an umbrella and looking into the distance, alongside a message that reads, "We are currently working hard towards the 25th anniversary. Thank you for your support," translated from Japanese.
The post arrived a day after the anniversary date, following fan discussions across online forums claiming that Square Enix had seemingly overlooked the occasion. For context, the original Kingdom Hearts was first released in Japan on March 28, 2002, making the franchise 24 years old this year.
Despite the anticipation, the newly released artwork offered little in terms of concrete updates, aside from teasing the series’ 25th anniversary in 2027 and introducing a mysterious figure. Prior to the reveal, some fans had expressed concern over the franchise’s future after its mobile spin-offs, Dark Road and Missing Link, were cancelled. With no major announcements for its mainline entries since the franchise’s 20th Anniversary Event, fans were hungry for more information, however scarce.
Following Nomura’s tweet, fans are giddy with anticipation about what’s to come for the series, sparking new theories and speculation about what this could mean. Some suggest that more Kingdom Hearts IV news could be unveiled on March 28, 2027.
Fans Remain Impatient
Waiting for a new Kingdom Hearts has not always been simple and clean, and fans have grown impatient over the years as Square Enix has been noticeably quiet about the 4th game’s development for the past few months. The series’ last announcement for Kingdom Hearts IV was in May 2025, when the company shared new screenshots showing series protagonist Sora taking down enemy Heartless in the game’s new Quadratum location.
Its previous game,Kingdom Hearts III, was released on January 29, 2019, after a grueling 13-year wait since its initial announcement. Kingdom Hearts IV, which was announced in April 2022 during the series’ 20th anniversary event, has now gone nearly five years without any pertinent information aside from its cinematic reveal trailer and a brief set of screenshots.
With Square Enix canceling its Pokemon GO-like title Missing Link, no new Kingdom Hearts games are expected for the time being. However, now that fans have an actual date to look forward to next year, all that remains is to wait once again, something fans have unsurprisingly been doing for years.
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Kingdom Hearts Social Page Teases 25th Anniversary with New Art
