Square Enix Must Hate Money Because No Kingdom Hearts Series on Xbox & Switch Makes No Sense

Author Writes: With the impending release of Kingdom Hearts 3, it seems like Square Enix has missed their perfect opportunity to bring the series to other platforms.

[PhoenixUp]

Square Enix already said they wanted to focus directly on getting KH3 our first before even considering porting those remasters to other platforms

[Yodagamer]

I get that point of view, but how are they expecting Xbox owners to know the story without referring to the internet. It doesn't make sense to Port it afterwards.

[CrimsonWing69]

Watch a YouTube recap?

I could be wrong in this thinking but if you’re willing to go into game number 3 I’m pretty sure you either: 1) Have played the other games or 2) will do your due diligence and get caught up on the story through wikis or user-created content.

My understanding is the game will have a recap of all events leading up to 3 so... I don’t think you’ll be lost if you haven’t played a Kingdom Hearts game. Hell, I own a PS4 and I’ve only played 1 and 2, there’s no way that I have the time to go through every other Kingdom Hearts game before this one. I’d probably be burnt out if I did.

[Ausbo]

No one knows the story to KH

[Seraphim]

I recall seeing SE stating they had plans for releasing a recap and including something to play at the start of KH3 as well.

And upon further review, a simple google search, there's plenty of stuff out there. For one there's apparently some videos recapping the series put out by SE. Also according to an article at comic book.com from Nomura

"We have included several elements in Kingdom Hearts 3 to explain the story and get newcomers up to speed the minimum required level of understanding, including a series of videos to explain the story so far at the start of the game," Nomura told the site. "I would be delighted if people who played Kingdom Hearts 3 took an interest in the series overall and went back to play the previous games as well."
link to article: https://comicbook.com/gamin...

as someone else mentioned, no one knows the story Lol. I don't think they had planned for all the spin offs so it gets a bit convoluted from what I've seen. I absolutely love KH but aside from Dream Drop Distance [2.8 HD remake] I've never bothered with the spin offs despite now having them via the 1.5 and 2.5 releases last gen. So in all honesty the recap provided at the start of the game is probably suffice for newcomers.

[AspiringProGenji]

The same way we PS4 fans had to figure out Witcher story when W3 got released on PS4

[Chocoburger]

You could play every game in the series, and you still can't figure out the story, so having the HD collection on Xbox One wouldn't help in that regard anyway!

[PhoenixUp]

You’d rather have them delay KH3 even further to make development time to port these games to XO?

[Neonridr]

It wouldn't have been hard for them to release the 1.5 / 2.5 HD remix that came out on PS4 onto the Xbox platform. Lazy.

[JEECE]

There's a solid argument for switch, but these games wouldn't sell significantly on XONE. The install base is roughly half of PS4 and much less disposed to Japanese games (even when 360 and PS3 had virtually identical install bases Japanese games would sell a significant majority of their copies on PlayStation). KH3 was announced for both consoles before Square saw how lopsided this gen would be. Plus a true numbered sequel is always going to sell better than a spin-off with a crazy title like Kingdom Hearts: 2×(8÷3): Hunter Hearst Helmsley.

[Eidolon]

When does that spin-off come out :O! Lol, yeah. FFXV sales on PS4 5X'ed Xbox One or something, get it out on the highest selling console first.

[KillBill]

What does FFXV have to do with Kingdom Hearts?

[Eidolon]

Um, Square Enix Action RPG. Except that FF is probably more known....

[Dreamcatcher45]

Why parentheses in 2 x 8/3?

[NotoriousWhiz]

Why not just call it 5.3333333333333333333333333333 33333333333?

[Neonridr]

BEDMAS

[tehpees3]

There is a major difference between an Xbox fan and a 360 fan. I cannot believe even after Tales of Vesperia's abysmal sales (and that is in the UK) people still carry this mentality that the wider fanbase 360 had has carried over because it clearly has not.

[JEECE]

Yeah that's my point. Even when Xbox had a larger fanbase, these types of games struggled significantly. Now, with the fanbase about half of what it was, there's little point in even releasing them on Xbox.

[Wintersun616]

Dat sneaky WWE reference.

[tontontam0]

Xbox gamers don't want kingdom hearts, they prefer games full of guns and macho protagonist.

[pcz]

PlayStation gamers want games with beautiful puddle physics

Nintendo gamers want games where the trees and clouds have smiley faces and sing

[Neonridr]

Doom, Doom 2, Diablo 3, Wolfenstein 2, MK11 all seem to disagree with what you are saying..

[Kiwi66]

So why are games like CoD always high on lists of the best sellers etc for both consoles as that would suggest that both fanbases like "games full of guns" as you put it, yet not everyone on either side only play that type of game plus Kingdom Hearts has been on multiple consoles since day one

[badz149]

the collections don't even sell THAT amazingly well on the PS4 with the biggest fanbase and supposedly where most of the fans of the series are. so what makes the author think that it will do better on other platforms?

[Chevalier]

Look at Ace Combat in the UK where the PS4 and Xbox One are more on even footing and the split was 76% sold were on PS4. Its not like it would move units on Xbox.

[Chocoburger]

@shaggy2303
"But it still sold 24% on Xbox, you think a developer/publisher just doesn't care for that 24% increase in sales? "

This is false logic. Its not a 24% increase in sales, because if it was exclusive to PS4, all multiplatform owners who had bought it for Xbox One would have simply bought it for PS4 since there was no other choice. The only increase of sales % is people who don't own PS4, but do own Xbox One and would have purchased the game. Which is to say a small percentage, perhaps 10% at most.

[Neonridr]

because in Japan Nintendo is king.

[SierraGuy]

Japan is nothing.

[Neonridr]

@SierraGuy - I love hearing nonsense like this. MHW sold like 3 million copies in Japan which accounts for like 25% of the world sales, but no.. they mean nothing. This is one country that sells numbers that rival entire regions.

[Chevalier]

@ Shaggy

" So why not release a game on as many platforms as possible if it doesn't require much extra work?"

Because nothing is free. I assume there is work involved and testing that has to be done. If you need to allocate resources and time and those same people could be working on bigger more important projects then maybe its not worth it. There's cost versus benefit for everything and if the benefits is low then they'll judge it as minimal or negligible benefit if any. I'm sure they got people with all the data to make that kind of informed decision.

Just look at Nier Automata which finally hit Xbox and it was digital only. Square has released many games on Xbox now over multiple generations and they would know their audience pretty well by now. Xbox users don't buy these types of games generally.

[Monkeycan8]

Probably because people bought them on PS3

[ButchKween]

Maybe it will come out later but the switch would sell like crazy with kh on it. X1, probably not.

[bouzebbal]

clueless writer...
the guy knows more than a company that existed for 30years..

[StormLegend]

It's obvious why it doesn't come to xbox. Heck they need to be lucky KH3 is there

[riibhu]

Would've made more sense to release on Steam as PC gamers in some or the other way(emulation) already can play previous games.

[Iltapalanyymi]

seething nintendies
get another different console besides switch like a sane person does and play everything you could possibly want to play

[neutralgamer1992]

KH wouldn't sell well on Xbox and that is a fact from all the other Japanese titles selling so poorly on Xbox brand

Ace combat 7 being the latest along with tales remaster. These multi billion dollar publishers have actual data for their decision making not whta some on n4g may think or say

Ps4 has more exclusives titles than switch and Xbox one combined now let thar sink in. Most smaller titles don't see the need got Xbox release because they know most times they can't even recover their porting costs

Xbox was, is and always will be an console for mostly western gamers and there is nothing wrong with that but that will always mean it won't be on event footing with others. In the first 4 months of 2019 there are like 10-15 exclusives from smaller developers but mostly Japanese titles that ends up helping ps4 move consoles. Niche games matter in the long run. Ms canceling scale bound has damaged the Xbox brand further that is why platinum games are making their next game ps4 console exclusive

Ms better trend really carefully because if them buying these studios now and than shutting them down in few years that will do major damage for their future acquisitions

So it's very easy to talk but in actuality how many gamers will buy KH HD collection at $60 on Xbox or switch? Don't just say I will because for a game to be worth porting it has to make a decent profit

[DerekTweed]

Platinum Games next game is Babylon's Fall which is not a PS4 exclusive it is on PC too.

I know you said console exclusive but Microfoft gets a lot of shit when they say that.

[TK-55]

"Ms canceling scale bound has damaged the Xbox brand further that is why platinum games are making their next game ps4 console exclusive"

Source? No such thing has been said and Nier: Automata made its way to Xbox One well after Scalebounds cancellation. What was it you said about actual data to back up decision making?

[Chevalier]

Thats the thing I keep hearing it cost little to port and if thats the case then Xbox sales must be extremely low to make it not worthwhile. Many Xbox fans here keep suggesting its cheap to port and they should do it like this multibillion dollar company doesn't know any better.

Just look at Mages they were exclusive to Xbox since the 360 in Japan. This generation they started off exclusive to Xbox One with Psychopass and their games sold so poorly they announced that they would be doing PS4 ports going forward. Psychopass not only has an anime that was released over here by Funimation, but, when NIS localised the game even though the Xbox One version was the first version to release it didn't even get released in North America and does anyone think thats a coincidence? I guess its a coincidence that Mages has had all their games released and localised for PS4 and NONE of them have been released on Xbox One this generation?

Thats why these companies pick and choose their releases. Maybe after they've made their money they'll just port it down the road. It happened with World of Final Fantasy Maxima and FF coming to Xbox One soon.

[MaxiPower90]

you cant build an audience if you dont support it. devs fearing only reaping small profits from xbox fail to realise that in the longterm your bringing more customers to the types of games.

[rainslacker]

Except based on sales, it's hard to say that they're really building those audiences to any great degree.

But, if they want to spend the money on putting it on other systems, I don't see the problem with it. Its unlikely they're losing money on the venture.

[MaxiPower90]

What i mean is kingdom hearts 3 never going to sell well on xbox... tho not releaesing the first two games on the console first is only going to ensure that fact. game tastes change and have always done since the 90s and people change consoles. i dont play shooters who i prefer my xbox. its a tight rope unfortunatly

[Yi-Long]

Well, they're already missing out on my 60 bucks at launch because it's a dub-only release, which I'm not interested in...

If the Japanese release has the English subs included, I'd import that of course... but I don't hold high hopes for that happening

[TheColbertinator]

Yes because everyone remembers Pixar and Disney characters for their iconic Japanese voice actors

/s

[chris235]

i‘d rather say it makes no sense to tweak a product to make it run on a severely underpowered gadget. or offering it on a gadget that is a gaming console only as a side product.

[TheGamez100]

Barely anyone I know with a ps4 dont even have these remasters or have even heard of them. I guess cuz they just dont care about those old and handheld games and only care for kh3. Tell them all the time they realllyyy need to know the story of all these games to even get any sense out of kh3. So I hope they do get ported everywhere else and especially the switch so interests of newcomers will really skyrocket. Shame ppl are still only sticking to one platform....sure they can afford a $1000 phone/tablet but not multiple consoles.

[Tross]

I'm actually surprised the PS3 and PS4 collections even happened and I count my blessings that they did. I guess Square Enix finally realized the importance of being able to actually follow a series...until they didn't.

I think having the third game on XB1 without any of the previous games makes zero sense, and it's doubtful that Kingdom Hearts fans would default to the latest Xbox if they had to stick with only one system, so I'm not really sure who the intended market for the XB1 version of the latest game is. Clearly not people like myself who have a chronic fear of canon-lock and will generally check out works from the very beginning or not at all with a disdain for having things explained to me either through Youtube vids or by people I know. Yeah, this is why I generally don't do comics, among other things. In any case, it would make a tad more sense if the previous Kingdom Hearts games were ported to get potential new fans up to speed.

As for the Switch, owners of that system are far more likely to be interested in a series like Kingdom Hearts, although it is a weaker platform hardware-wise and if I recall KHIII was announced for the PS4 and XB1 well before the Switch was a thing. Nintendo does have a history with the KH series though, and the Switch should be capable of running all of the older games, so a collection on its latest platform would make sense.

This is all a moot point for multi-system owners though.

[Chevalier]

I think that KH3 was early in development and Square saw that the 360 had sold so incredible in the U.S. that they wanted to make sure they didn't miss the boat they assumed like many firms did that Xbox One would potentially dominate as well so they hedged their bets. Since the systems were similar they could work both versions in parallel or just port it easier they took the chance because if the Xbox One did take off they needed to capitalise on that potential. That didn't materialize and they would just get bad press if they cancelled it now so they're just going to release it and hope they can recoup the cost. They could always just release those other games later and make a collection of them too. World of Final Fantasy Maxima just came out on the Xbox and Nier Automata so maybe they'll do the same here after they've recouped enough from PS4 sales.

[Playbey0nd]

The game is synonymous with PlayStation, but all of the 1.5-2.8 and “story so far” releases, Square Enix has had ample amount of time to have the series to XBO & Switch adopters.

On another subject - Am I the only one who think new game should be KH4? From a marketing perspective dropping a title labeled KH3D and how it continued the story with the main characters I thought that would’ve made more sense.

[agent4532]

Is not that Square Enix hates 💰. Squenix saw firsthand how JRPGS just don't sell nor rave about by xbox players. The Switch is not powerful enough to run Kingdom Hearts 3

[CertifiedGamer]

I'm sure Sony has a time-exclusive deal with Square-Enix so the first batch of sales can be sold on PS4 then later it comes to Switch and Xbox One. I expect the Series X1 along with the KH collection to be released on Switch by the end of the year. Square-Enix usually gives first dibs to Sony on almost everything except Tomb Raider.

[GoodnessGreatness]

It's simple. It won't sell well on xbox.

[vork77]

KH3 is on xbox

[Sirk7x]

I feel like 1 and 2 would be no brainers on Switch. Would sell very well.