Kingdom Hearts 3 Leaks May Ultimately Have Consequences for the Future, Nomura Says

Kingdom Hearts 3 director Tetsuya Nomura says he's reconsidering worldwide video game releases after Kingdom Hearts 3 leaded to the public weeks before launch. This could spell trouble for Nomura's future games, which includes the Final Fantasy 7 remake.

In an interview with Japanese games magazine Famitsu, Nomura was asked about the Kingdom Hearts 3 leak which occurred six weeks before launch. "I believe there was misinformation that made it seem as though it 'leaked in massive quantities from multiple sources,' but in fact only four copies made it out there," explains Nomura. "[A]nd we confirmed that though the leak came from a single source, it seemed like multiple due to how the copies were scattered."

But regardless of how the Kingdom Hearts 3 leak played out, videos of Kingdom Hearts 3's ending and secrets found their way online, and Square Enix had to publish a public warning that spoilers were out in the wild. Spoilers could take the momentum away from any game, especially for a title like Kingdom Hearts 3 which spent years in development. Nomura might not be willing to take the same chance with his next game.

"The risk [of a leak] is higher with simultaneous worldwide releases, and because of this incident I can't help but reconsider what I'll do for my next games, including simultaneous worldwide releases of physical copies at the very least," says Nomura. Right now, we know Nomura is working on the remake of Final Fantasy 7, a game that also has been in development for a long time and has built up quite a bit of excitement among fans.

Nomura's caution against leaks could alter any release plans for Final Fantasy 7, which last we heard will be episodic. But based on reports, Final Fantasy 7 is still in the middle of development and it might be a long time before a launch is even discussed in public. Hopefully by then there will be some more safeguards in place to prevent leaks while still keeping to a worldwide release schedule.

Check out our Kingdom Hearts 3 review for our take on Nomura's latest Disney collaboration. We also have a Kingdom Hearts 3 guide and Final Fantasy 7 guide for all the latest on both projects.

Thanks, Siliconera.