


It was later revealed that due to initial development issues, development had switched from Square Enix's internal Luminous Engine to Epic Games' Unreal Engine 4. Tetsuya Nomura stated in an interview during the Square Enix Presents E3 presentation that they are using DirectX 11 to develop both Kingdom Hearts III and Final Fantasy XV to allow for easier cross-platform development. Because the development team behind the original Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II is working on Final Fantasy XV, Kingdom Hearts III is being made by the Osaka-based team that made Birth by Sleep and Dream Drop Distance. Kingdom Hearts III began development in 2010, after the PSP prequel Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep was completed. Storyįollowing the events of Dream Drop Distance, Sora searches for the Power of Waking so he and others can assemble the 7 Guardians of Light to battle Master Xehanort's 13 Darknesses and the latter's mission to form the χ-blade. The game is planned for release in January 29th, 2019 (January 25th in Japan), and will feature a new theme song from Utada Hikaru titled "Oath" for the Japanese Version and "Don't Think Twice" for the English version. Kingdom Hearts III will be the first game in the series to see release on a Microsoft console. On June 11th, 2013, Square-Enix also confirmed the title will be released on Xbox One as well.

It was first revealed during the 2013 Sony E3 press conference, where it was announced as coming to the PlayStation 4. It will be the first game in the series built from the ground up for HD-capable consoles. Kingdom Hearts III is the long awaited follow up to Kingdom Hearts II, and follows chronologically after Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance.
