Pixar’s official account confirmed it during the D23 Entertainment Showcase. The game was announced in April 2022 and has gone four years without a date of any kind.
Four years and four months after Kingdom Hearts IV was announced, it has a launch window.
Late 2027, confirmed by Pixar’s official account during Friday night’s Disney Entertainment Showcase at D23.
That’s the first time anyone has attached a year to this game.
The Kingdom Hearts IV timeline, briefly
April 2022: announced at the franchise’s 20th anniversary event, alongside a reveal trailer introducing Quadratum and the Lost Master Arc.
Then almost nothing, for four years.
June 9, 2026: a gameplay trailer at a Nintendo Direct, the first substantial footage since the reveal. It confirmed Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, showed Sora fighting Heartless in a Shibuya-inspired modern Tokyo, and gave no date.
August 14, 2026: late 2027.
What we know about Kingdom Hearts IV
The setting is Quadratum, a realistic city unlike anything the series has built before.
Donald and Goofy return. Strelitzia appears. The June trailer showed a new Keyblade transformation, a skyscraper-scale Darkside tearing through the city, and a version of Luxord rendered in the new style.
Tai Yasue is co-directing.
The visual approach is the departure. Previous entries stylized everything to sit alongside Disney animation. Quadratum is built to look like a place.
Why late 2027 is a specific choice
The franchise turns 25 in March 2027.
The original Kingdom Hearts launched in Japan on March 28, 2002. Square Enix already revealed a 25th anniversary logo back in June.
A late 2027 launch puts the game inside the anniversary year without having to hit the anniversary date, which is a reasonable amount of runway for a project that has moved this slowly.
What’s still missing
A month, for one.
No release date, no platform-specific details beyond the four confirmed platforms, no pricing, and no word on whether the Switch 2 version launches alongside the others.
Square Enix has not published its own statement on the window as of writing.
The dedicated Kingdom Hearts panel runs Saturday at 4:30 p.m. Pacific with Yasue on stage, which is the obvious place for any of that to arrive. A game that spent four years in silence just got a year attached to it in a Pixar tweet, which is its own kind of strange.
Article compiled with the help of the Pirates & Princesses newsroom.
Pirates and Princesses is your destination for Disney news, theme park updates, and the pop culture you love. From Disney cruises and travel tips to Disney fashion, food, collectibles, and movie news, PNP covers it all. Visit us at piratesandprincesses.net for daily coverage. Follow PNP on Facebook and Instagram, and listen to the Pirates & Princesses podcast on Apple Podcasts and YouTube.
Hat Tips:
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Pixar official account (August 14, 2026), confirming Kingdom Hearts IV launches in late 2027
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SlashFilm (August 14, 2026), the live blog report of the 2027 announcement from inside the Honda Center
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Square Enix press release (June 9, 2026), the Kingdom Hearts IV platform confirmation, the Quadratum description, and the 25th anniversary logo reveal
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Game Informer (June 9, 2026), the Nintendo Direct gameplay trailer coverage and the four-year gap since the 2022 reveal
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KH13 (July 2026), the trailer breakdown covering the Keyblade transformation, the Darkside sequence, and the Luxord appearance
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