Kingdom Hearts fans who are eagerly waiting for the upcoming game don’t really have much choice in their platform if they want to experience the previous games, and this is something that needs to change.
Kingdom Hearts 3 is coming to the Xbox One along with the PS4, which is a really surprising move by Square Enix. It made sense back when the game was announced in 2013 but now it looks rather stupid. The reason is simple: Xbox One lacks almost every Kingdom Hearts game released so far unlike the PS4. So how can fans enjoy the complete Kingdom Hearts experience on the Xbox One before the latest entry drops?
This brings me to the announcement of Final Fantasy games coming to the Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. These include World of Final Fantasy: Maxima, Final Fantasy VII, IX, X, X-2, and XII. There are a couple more as seen in the full list. These games were also absent on any other platforms aside from the PC and PS4, so now a new theory is circulating online that suggests it has something to do with Sony and Square Enix’s history.
So the significance of that big FF port announcement: it's long been theorized that Square-Enix was barred from porting those games to consoles that compete with Sony. Square used a shell company to get around some of that but it folded after the Taito acquisition.
— Imran Khan (@imranzomg) September 13, 2018
The reason for this was that, after The Spirits Within, Sony bailed Squaresoft out by purchasing 18% of their stock. Sony sold that share in 2014, but at the time the Wii U was the Wii U and the Xbox One was seemingly lost in the woods. The Switch was the first chance to do it.
— Imran Khan (@imranzomg) September 13, 2018
Just like Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2 are exclusive to Sony platforms. While other Kingdom Hearts spin-off targeted handhelds like the Nintendo DS, there was never a mainline game released for other consoles until Kingdom Hearts 3. Maybe just like Final Fantasy, Square Enix was under some obligation to Sony to not release these games on any other competitor’s console since they were all developed during the time when Sony had an influence over them. Now that it has ended, perhaps these games deserve another chance on other platforms as well.
The Kingdom Hearts Remasters on PS4 offers a great way to get introduced to not just the story but every major game in the series. They are only available to play on the PS4 but perhaps it is time now to port them to other platforms as well.
Of course, the Xbox One and Nintendo Switch are not the only platforms that deserve the series, it can also head to PC too. But since PC was never an issue for Sony, Square Enix could have easily ported the games if they wanted, so the focus here is on the Xbox One and Nintendo Switch since I am sure there are a lot of fans who would love to see the series on their preferred platform.
At one point, it was impossible to see Final Fantasy return in such a big way to not just Nintendo’s hardware, but also Xbox One. Now that it has already happened, perhaps it is time to see more acceptance toward a multi-platform approach which benefits the developers instead of third-party exclusives. Just like Final Fantasy, fans can dream of getting all Kingdom Hearts game on their favorite platform one day.
What do you think about this article? Do you want to see Kingdom Hearts on the Nintendo Switch or Xbox One? Let us know in the comments below.
