Square Enix has a lot riding on 2027. Kingdom Hearts IV and Final Fantasy 7: Revelation are both scheduled to release that year, and now we know both games are being built by the same team.
Naoki Hamaguchi, director of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy, has confirmed that his internal team at Creative Studio 1 is developing Kingdom Hearts IV in addition to wrapping up the FF7 trilogy. He made the announcement in a recent interview, laying out exactly how much his studio has on its plate heading into next year.
One studio, two of Square Enix's biggest bets
Hamaguchi was direct about it. His exact words: "Between Final Fantasy VII Revelation and Kingdom Hearts IV, those are massive titles that are going to push that. And both are being developed in my own studio, Creative Studio 1. So yeah, I'm really pumped up now for that. That's really all on my watch now, so I'm going to be the guy who's pushing all that forward."
That is a significant amount of pressure on one studio. Final Fantasy 7: Revelation is the conclusion to a trilogy that started with the 2020 Remake and continued with Rebirth in 2024. Kingdom Hearts IV was first revealed back in 2022 and has been quietly building hype ever since, most recently with the addition of a Pixar Coco world. Both games are targeting 2027.
Square Enix president Takashi Kiryu has publicly framed 2027 as the company's "big fight back," which puts enormous weight on Hamaguchi and Creative Studio 1 to deliver on two fronts at once.
What this means for Kingdom Hearts IV specifically
Here's the thing: Hamaguchi's involvement is actually a strong signal for Kingdom Hearts IV. The FF7 Remake trilogy set a high bar for action-RPG production values within Square Enix. Rebirth in particular was praised for its world design and combat depth. Bringing that same team to Kingdom Hearts IV suggests the game is being treated as a genuine flagship, not a side project handed off to a smaller group.
The Kingdom Hearts series has always had a complicated development history. Multiple spin-offs across different platforms, long gaps between mainline entries, and a story that became notoriously hard to follow. Having a director who just shipped two major RPGs in relatively quick succession running point on Kingdom Hearts IV is a different kind of confidence signal than a vague "it's in development" update.
The anime adaptation angle
Hamaguchi also touched on the broader question of Square Enix properties moving into other media. Kingdom Hearts is already being adapted into an anime series for Disney+. When asked whether Final Fantasy 7 could get similar treatment, he said the company is actively exploring adaptation opportunities across all of its major IPs, including a potential live-action or animated version of the FF7 Remake story specifically.
Final Fantasy 7 Advent Children, the animated film released in 2005, was the last major screen adaptation of that property. That was over 20 years ago. Whether anything concrete comes from those discussions is unclear, but the fact that Hamaguchi is openly talking about it suggests Square Enix is paying attention to how well the Kingdom Hearts anime lands.
For players waiting on Kingdom Hearts IV, the Kingdom Hearts IV guides collection at GAMES.GG will be the place to track everything as more details drop closer to launch. And if you want to stay across the broader release calendar, the full gaming guides hub has you covered.
