Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3, Kingdom Hearts 4 Development is on Schedule – Tetsuya Nomura

While Square Enix has been tight-lipped about the development of the third part of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy as well as Kingdom Hearts 4, during a recent livestream about Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis, Tetsuya Nomura revealed that development on both titles has been going smoothly. Final Fantasy 7 Remake part 3 – on which Nomura is creative director – even has a scheduled announcement date.

As caught by social media user Genki_JPN, Nomura said about Final Fantasy 7 Remake part 3 that “It is going very smoothly. The announcement timing has been decided and we will stick to that schedule, so please rest assured and wait.” As for Kingdom Hearts 4, Nomura noted that it “is also progressing well and according to schedule.” These statements were made because Square Enix was expected to have some news about Final Fantasy 7 Remake part 3 by now.

Kingdom Hearts 4 was originally announced all the way back in 2022. Since then, however, aside from a few comments by director Nomura here and there, things have largely been quiet. Back in January, Nomura celebrated the 15th anniversary of Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep by talking about some of the themes of the title, and how Kingdom Hearts 4 might carry over some of the same themes in its own story. One of the main themes tying the series together has been the idea of crossroads.

“The first time a crossroads appears in Kingdom Hearts is in [Chain of Memories], which is about losing something to gain something,” said Nomura. “And in fact, all subsequent appearances of crossroads have the same significance.” He then follows this up by talking about the Faustian bargain that takes place in Kingdom Hearts 3 between the Lost Masters also meeting up at crossroads. “But wait… when the Lost Masters gather at the crossroads in KH3, what is gained and what is lost? That’s a story for another time.”

Talking about a video Square Enix had released to celebrate Birth by Sleep, Nomura spoke about how the video also featured important characters from the Kingdom Hearts series near a crossroads. “In this video, three Keyblade wielders clad in armour wait for someone at a crossroads,” he said. “Meeting someone at a crossroads is actually a recurring motif in Kingdom Hearts. At the beginning of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories (CoM), Sora meets someone in a black coat and is invited to Castle Oblivion.”

Voice actor Zach Pokres had revealed back in May that he had been working with Square Enix on an RPG over the last year. Among the projects noted by Pokres is Kingdom Hearts 4, which he noted that he got special permission from Square Enix to mention.

“These are just projects all in the last YEAR,” posted Pokres, with one of the projects listed being Kingdom Hearts 4. “All high-quality projects/have taken over the industry. I’m in studio rosters that most people would DREAM of being in, all without an agent and just always pushing.”

As for the Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy, the third title in the series seemingly kicked off voice acting work back in April.