Kingdom Hearts III
"Kingdom Hearts III" was released for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on January 25, 2019 in Japan and other Asian countries, and is scheduled to be released on January 29, 2019 elsewhere. In July 2017, at D23, it was announced that the game would release in 2018. Almost a year later, at an additional performance of the "Kingdom Hearts" Orchestra World Tour in Los Angeles, the game's North American release date was revealed to be January 29, 2019. Nomura spoke to moving the game's release date outside of 2018, stating the development team had been told the original release date they had considered was not "good timing in the year" to release the game, especially considering "differences in holiday lengths and how stores behave in different regions". In addition, Square Enix requested the game be released as simultaneously as possibly between Japan and the rest of the world, and not wanting to move up the release at the expense of development, resulted in the January 2019 date being chosen. The game's epilogue is planned to be added to the game on January 26 for Japan and January 30 elsewhere, while the secret film content is planned to be added worldwide on January 31, 2019. This was done in order to help prevent them from leaking beforehand, since Nomura called them "the biggest spoilers" in the game.
Kingdom Hearts III
After Square Enix finished development of "Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix", Tetsuya Nomura was approached by Disney, who expressed interest in a sequel. In regard to a possible release of "Kingdom Hearts III", Nomura said "We have various ideas, but we're not at the point where we can say that." He added that due to the development of "Final Fantasy XV"—titled "Final Fantasy Versus XIII" at the time— which was being developed by the "Kingdom Hearts II" team, it was "physically impossible at the present. I feel that it's not the right time to talk about the future of "Kingdom Hearts"." In response to questions about the secret film in "Final Mix", Nomura noted that it was of a "new series" in "Kingdom Hearts" rather than "Kingdom Hearts III". When asked about "Kingdom Hearts III", Nomura noted that fans and partners alike were interested in its release, and would work to "realize it" as soon as possible. In the "Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep" Ultimania guide book, Nomura announced three upcoming titles, one of which was "Kingdom Hearts III". However, "Final Fantasy XV" was still his primary focus, preventing him from starting production on "Kingdom Hearts III". He later noted that "Kingdom Hearts III" would not see a release until after 2012, due to his continuing work on "Final Fantasy XV", regardless of the 10th anniversary of the series occurring in that year. The Nintendo 3DS video game "Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance" was announced to connect to "Kingdom Hearts III", both in terms of gameplay system and story.