Will Kingdom Hearts 3 release on Nintendo Switch?
Does Square Enix plan to release Kingdom Hearts 3 for the Nintendo Switch, or is the latest series release exclusive to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One?
Series fans have been waiting a long time for Kingdom Hearts 3, and for Nintendo Switch players, it seems like that trend is set to continue. It's been over 13 full years since the last numbered sequel in the Kingdom Hearts series was released for the PlayStation 2, and the newest entry is slated to land on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One later this month. Given that past Kingdom Hearts spinoffs have landed on Nintendo hardware, can players expect Kingdom Hearts 3 to release for the Nintendo Switch?
Is Kingdom Hearts 3 coming to Nintendo Switch?
For now, it looks like Kingdom Hearts 3 will not be coming to the Nintendo Switch. Given the game's lengthy development cycle, the developers at Square Enix have been focusing primarily on the power afforded to current-generation consoles like the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
However, Kingdom Hearts 3 director Tetsuya Nomura doesn't seem opposed to the idea of releasing the game on the Nintendo Switch. Speaking in an interview with IGN at D23 Expo in 2017, Nomura considered the idea of releasing Kingdom Hearts 3 on the Nintendo Switch following its launch on PS4 and Xbox One.
“The Nintendo Switch is definitely a very interesting piece of hardware," Nomura said, "but if we lightly say, ‘Oh yeah, we’ll be on the Nintendo Switch,’ I’m sure people will come back and say, ‘But what about the PS4 and Xbox One? We want them out first. Don’t focus on other platforms.’ So for now, we want to focus on what platforms we’ve already announced we’re going to be releasing Kingdom Hearts 3 on. And so after, perhaps, maybe we can start thinking about other possibilities.”
While Nomura and the crew at Square Enix want to make sure the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of the game are as polished as possible, they aren't saying that Kingdom Hearts 3 will never release for the Nintendo Switch. However, as things stand now, the team seems to be taking sort of a wait-and-see approach. Once the game has arrived and the studio is able to start listening to feedback, perhaps Square Enix will put more thought into a Switch release.
The power to release Kingdom Hearts 3 on the Nintendo Switch is firmly in the hands of Square Enix. Thankfully, the studio is not saying a Switch release will not happen. For now, though, the developers are focusing all of their attention on making sure the series' latest sequel makes a proper PlayStation 4 and Xbox One debut before they start thinking about porting the game to other systems.
