News ► KH3 Premiere Part 3: The Divide Between Emotional Connection and the Xbox One

[Oracle Spockanort]

On May 18th, I was very lucky to have the chance to try out Kingdom Hearts III for the first time along with dozens of other influencers among the Kingdom Hearts fanbase. Even almost a week later, my experience still feels so surreal and dreamlike, and I’m sure many of my peers feel the same. As we continue our week-long coverage of the Kingdom Hearts III Premiere Event, please remember to check out our developer panel transcript and KH3 demo impressions, and follow us on Twitter and Facebook to keep up with all of our latest updates!

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As I walked over to the demo stations surrounded by vibrant displays modeled after the Toy Story level in Kingdom Hearts III, I couldn’t help but notice a clear attraction to the PlayStation 4 stations set up on the left side of the room while there were a handful of open Xbox One stations on the right. 

It was natural for everybody to choose the PS4 over the XB1. Even when Kingdom Hearts was on Nintendo consoles, it had always been clear that the true home for this series was on PlayStation consoles. All seven console and handheld Kingdom Hearts games released thus far have been ported to the PS4 as two collections, and Square Enix has made repeated statements that they currently have no plans to port the collections to the XB1.

When a company like Square Enix carefully cultivates a user-base like that, of course people will automatically choose PlayStation before Xbox.

Even as I sat down in front of one of the XB1 stations, I kept looking over toward the PS4 stations in hopes of finding one that wasn’t occupied. My experience with an XB1 has been limited to the very brief three months that I owned one and the dozens and dozens of XB1 consoles I had to reset for one of my previous jobs. The XB1 controller felt cumbersome and gigantic in my smaller hands, and the controls were almost daunting despite having the exact same button mapping as the PS4.

Despite my discomfort, I did my best. I felt a sense of childlike glee in being able to enjoy my favorite series again with all of the current generation advancements even as I clumsily played my way through the Toy Box level of KH3. Exploring the toy store, laughing at the absolutely wholesome dialogue and interactions between Sora, Donald, Goofy, and the Toy Story characters, marveling at all the feats accomplished with the graphics, poking and prodding different displays in hopes of finding something to interact with—it was as though all of my hopes and dreams from when I was a little runt in middle school were brought to life. 

Even as I nearly died while fighting the horrifyingly eerie boss of the demo, constantly cursing the distracting input lag and clunky controls present in this build of the game, it was still a lot of fun to play. 

Except...when I got home I began to wonder. 

For many Kingdom Hearts fans, we’ve had years of buildup for us that plays an inherent role in our excitement over KH3. Jumping into playing the demo and experiencing the new Attraction Flows, link summons, and all of the new additions had been this wonderful and nostalgic moment for many of us. I felt like I was reliving the greatest parts of my childhood in that brief hour I had with the game.

These kinds of memories and feelings won’t exist for a majority of exclusively XB1 gamers due to this being the first game from the Kingdom Hearts franchise to be on this console.

Generally when companies introduce a long-running series to a new console, it is done with the purpose of drawing in new players to boost the longevity of that series. This works for plenty of video game franchises out there, especially ones where each installment builds its own narrative that is either loosely connected to the previous games or work as a standalone game. This is much harder for a series like Kingdom Hearts with over eight different games that serve to build the narrative for KH3.

Kingdom Hearts series director Tetsuya Nomura has stated that they plan to implement a system that will help catch players up on all of the important plot details and characters for KH3 if they haven’t attempted to try and keep up with all of the previous titles in the series. There is only so much a recap can really do for potential players, though. 

Which brings me back to to the XB1 user-base. Without there being any previous Kingdom Hearts games on the console, many XB1 users are already at a disadvantage if they have always played games exclusively on Microsoft consoles. KH3 might give them the tools to catch up with the series, but all of that sense of nostalgia, wonder, and childlike glee could very well be lost on them. 

I could giggle at the little references and throwbacks to the first Kingdom Hearts game because I had the chance to play it. Watching what a technical marvel KH3 is becomes a sweeter moment when you are able to remember just where the series has come from over the last 16 years. I couldn’t help but think that KH3 is really going to do its best to have all of these callbacks and references to previous games that will fall flat for people who have never had the chance to play a Kingdom Hearts game before.

This can be easily said for anybody whose first foray into the Kingdom Hearts franchise will be KH3 and not just XB1 users, but nevertheless I can’t help but think of them first because they will be at more of a disadvantage than PS4 users who have easy access to Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReMIX and Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue if they want to catch up with the series so far. 

KH3 is on its way to becoming an amazing experience for gamers around the world to enjoy, but how effective will it be in really drawing the XB1 audience into the game if the potential fanbase will have more obstacles to climb over in order to truly get the full experience of the game? A part of me will remember how people seemed to rushed to get their hands on the PS4 version of the KH3 demo at the Premiere Event and think that perhaps my answer has been there all along.

* * *

 

[Chaser]

With how little Square Enix and Disney seem to care about having the entire Kingdom Hearts series on Xbox One, I do wonder why they just didn't cancel that port and make it a PlayStation 4 exclusive.

The numbers from trailers uploaded on PlayStation and Xbox have a great divide, and reading about how people at the event were more likely to grab a PlayStation 4 controller over an Xbox controller gives me the same worry.

The series has a history for people who grew up with PlayStation. Even if you didn't keep up with the series after KH2, you'd still be able to cast your mind back to those events you took part in, the battles and exploration, and reflect on those with this entry.

Like you said, those on Xbox who would be jumping into KH3* don't have the luxury of being able to reflect on how far the series has come, nor recognise the callbacks or references to past games, both in the plot and in world design.

I feel bad for the Xbox gamers because it is clear they aren't going to get the collections before KH3 releases, and a post-release collection dropping on that console depends on the numbers. But how can those numbers be big enough to warrant a collection when Square is intentionally holding back the history of the series?

It's doomed to fail and I don't see why, after all these years, Square Enix and Disney have stuck with their confirmation of porting the game to Xbox One. They don't seem to care about those who game on that console and would want the previous collections, and the numbers don't support any positive growth for the series on Xbox.

I also find the Xbox controller uncomfortable - for me, it's the joy sticks being at separate ends of the controller that cramp my hands - so I understand why so many who are more familiar and comfortable with the DualShock controller would naturally gravitate towards the PlayStation consoles.

It's just a real shame that Square Enix is not doing more for those on Xbox. I don't blame them, like I said before, the numbers do not support any kind of success for Kingdom Hearts on Xbox, but maybe they should have just given it a try? At least the collections would have been available for those who might have been interested.

*This only applies to first timers, not people who swapped from PlayStation to Xbox.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

It is a shame. I wish there was a bit more care given to the XB1 audience. They likely have no expectations of how well they want it to sell on the XB1, only that it breaks even on the cost of having it on there and whatever extra they can get.

It has been something that has been discussed many times in the past around the internet. What reason does the XB1 version exist for?

When looking at the general sales SE has had for their Japanese titles on XB1, they almost always pale in comparison to the games on the PS4. In general, the XB1 has not tried to court RPG gamers with anything compelling enough to make them ether own both consoles or switch over to the XB1. The console just doesn't have that audience there.

It is a shame because I think this would be the perfect time to court XB1 gamers. Give them a reason to care.

 

[The_Echo]

I have to wonder how many Xbox One owners (who do not have prior experience with Kingdom Hearts) would even bother picking up KHIII.

It's no secret that JRPGs simply do not sell that well on Xbox platforms, and never have. Probably the only exceptions being FFXIII and XV.
I think it became pretty obvious when Microsoft themselves pushed for JRPGs on Xbox with Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey, only for both of them to go largely unnoticed and quickly forgotten.

I'm convinced the only reason the Xbox One version of KHIII still exists is because some exec at SE probably thought it'd look bad if they canceled it.

 

[Unusual1290]

With how little Square Enix and Disney seem to care about having the entire Kingdom Hearts series on Xbox One, I do wonder why they just didn't cancel that port and make it a PlayStation 4 exclusive.

Well I believe that the reason KH3 is on Xbox is because Microsoft has a deal with Sqaure for them to feature all of their big A-list titles on the system.

 

[Alpha Baymax]

Why couldn't Square Enix be like Sega and port Kingdom Hearts 1.5+2.5 HD Remix, and HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue for Xbox One exclusively for the west?

With Shenmue 1+2 HD, there's no Xbox One version in Japan whilst there's an Xbox One version internationally. This baffling corporate decision reeks of Square Enix simply not caring about the Xbox audience in the west.

 

[Sephiroth0812]

I'm convinced the only reason the Xbox One version of KHIII still exists is because some exec at SE probably thought it'd look bad if they canceled it.

Or it is because they have a binding contract with Microsoft about it which they can't get out of without economical damage and therefore are obliged to deliver it.

If anything the situation Spockanort described where most attending people automatically gravitated towards the PS4 version of the KH III demo (and not all of the event attendants are dedicated KH nerds/fans) may only reinforce the development teams and Square's upper echelons observation that the XB One version might come anyways due to contractual reasons, but that it is just an extra tag along which gets only as much attention as absolutely necessary.

This baffling corporate decision reeks of Square Enix simply not caring about the Xbox audience in the west.

Which may be because the actual size of that audience is negligible in the big picture.
"The west" is also somewhat misleading as outside the US the XBox One isn't that widespread or liked either as in most EU countries both the PS4 and Nintendo's Switch have a much higher userbase.

As The_Echo said, japanese games and especially JRPGs almost never do reasonably well on Microsoft consoles so most developers do not feel to invest anything past the most basic effort when there actually is a deal for a port of such a game made.

 

[Alpha Baymax]

Which may be because the actual size of that audience is negligible in the big picture.
"The west" is also somewhat misleading as outside the US the XBox One isn't that widespread or liked either as in most EU countries both the PS4 and Nintendo's Switch have a much higher userbase.

As The_Echo said, japanese games and especially JRPGs almost never do reasonably well on Microsoft consoles so most developers do not feel to invest anything past the most basic effort when there actually is a deal for a port of such a game made.

So you're going to ignore this element of my response? because it kind of counters your point.

With Shenmue 1+2 HD, there's no Xbox One version in Japan whilst there's an Xbox One version internationally. This baffling corporate decision reeks of Square Enix simply not caring about the Xbox audience in the west.

It's not the hardest thing in the world for Square Enix to port a remastered collection to Xbox One exclusively for the west. Heck, make it digitally exclusive if the fees for physical packaging is that cumbersome for them.

There's so many PS Vita ports of games that remain Japan exclusive so it's not out of the realm of possibility. There's an evident demand for the Kingdom Hearts remasters to be available for Xbox One, but Square Enix refuses to listen. The benefits of the remasters for Xbox One outweighs the liabilities in the long run.

 

[Rob]

As stated in September 2012 during interviews regarding 1.5's announcement, Nomura stated that his plan when he decided to make KH3 was to release all the scattered games on one platform before KH3 released. Now why would Nomura say that... or be allowed to say that if KH3 was coming to coming to a platform not called PlayStation? Something must have happened after that to E3 2013 to cause SE to go against Nomura's plan and put KH3 on the next gen console called Xbox One. It's upper managements fault for giving Xbox gamers hope. Though, SE made it quite clear that the collections weren't leaving PlayStation with 1.5 and 2.5 being PS exclusives. Then 2.8 and 1.5+2.5 being exclusives on PS4 in 2017 as well completing Nomura's plan in 5 years. Heck, even Tai Yasue stated in 2016 after E3 (GamesBeat interview) that Xbox One gamers can just enjoy the Disney Worlds in the game and not focus on the story. Before he said that, the interviewer said "Will 2.8 be coming to Xbox One?" Yasue said only for PS4. Then the interviewer said "But KH3 is on Xbox One..." Yasue said "Right." I died with laughter.

SE hasn't been supporting Xbox One with their Japanese games this gen. They've only announced 4 Japanese games for Xbox One since 2013: KH3 and FF XV in 2013. FF Type-0 HD in 2014. Romancing Saga 2 in 2017.

In 2014, I remember Shinji Hashimoto stating that SE would support PS4 with their Japanese games. Then you have Final Fantasy VII Remake being only announced in 2015 for PS4 (The "first on PlayStation" is so unclear now since it'll be a PS5 title and obviously for PC like the original). As I showed you above, after Type-0 HD, it took 3 years for another Xbox One game to be announced. I bet Romancing Saga 2 was just a random release consider Japanese games like Dragon Quest XI were announced for the West, and PC was announced as the only port that it is getting. Look at all the PS2 remasters SE released like FF X and FF XII that was only for PS3 and PS4 (then got released on PC). Also, the Kingdom Hearts YouTube channel made a trailer last year about playing all the KH games on PS4 (ignoring X[chi] in that trailer).

Yeah, anyway, just be grateful KH3 is still coming to Xbox One. Whether SE is just honoring their announcement or they got stuck in a contract with MS. You can buy a PS4 if you really want to play the previous games just as Nomura planned.

 

[The_Echo]

There's an evident demand for the Kingdom Hearts remasters to be available for Xbox One

You... sure about that? I've seen more demand for a Switch port, and that console's only a year old. Hell, I saw more support for a Wii U (a console which has about half the lifetime sales of Xbox One) port of KHIII, usually presented with confusion over the existence of the Xbox version.
I specifically remember this petition being spread around for a while, and a slightly older one pre-2.8 I can't seem to find.
Not exactly successful endeavors.

Square Enix would know better than any of us what the demand looks like for Xbox One.
That KHIII is months away from release and still there is no 1.5+2.5 on Xbox should say everything.

 

[Recon]

I mean, I think I understand Square Enix's decision to put KH3 on the Xbox. Since PS2, so much has happened. I'm sure it's their best interest to reach out to all players who have moved on from those PS2 days. I perceive it like "Hey, we know you used to play our series, and we know some of you may have moved on, but we're finally releasing the last entry in the series and we'd love for you to play it" or something like that.

What's weird is the event even had Xbox systems. The entire KH audience has never played the series on Xbox before. But Sephiroth0812 is right by stating they could be under contract, and perhaps they want to show equal opportunity as a good business practice.

I''m happy you got to demo the game despite the system.

 

[Sephiroth0812]

So you're going to ignore this element of my response? because it kind of counters your point.



It's not the hardest thing in the world for Square Enix to port a remastered collection to Xbox One exclusively for the west. Heck, make it digitally exclusive if the fees for physical packaging is that cumbersome for them.

There's so many PS Vita ports of games that remain Japan exclusive so it's not out of the realm of possibility. There's an evident demand for the Kingdom Hearts remasters to be available for Xbox One, but Square Enix refuses to listen. The benefits of the remasters for Xbox One outweighs the liabilities in the long run.

Except that it doesn't counter anything.
Those games aren't Square nor is the fact that these were exceptionally released on XBox in the west a precedence for everything else suddenly following suit.

Do you know about business practices and actual costs? The technical side of things and how much manpower hours have to be poured into such an endeavour?
If not, I would not lean so far out of the window about what is a hard thing and what not.


Again comparing apples and oranges, what does the Vita and games from completely other publishers and developers have to do with it?
Fact is that both FF XIII and FF XV did abysmal on the Xbox compared to the Playstation versions and due to Square's handling of the whole issue the possibility that they're only releasing the XBox version of KH III at all is because of a binding contract and not because they want to is certainly higher than any of the other scenarios.
When KH III was first unveiled at E3 2013 the "console race" was still open after the PS3 and XB360 being so close last generation and therefore Square may have initially opted to release for both consoles on considerations of safety (or Microsoft running the door in with coffers full of money), but when it became clear that the PS4 would "win" this generations console race they focused solely on the PS version with the XBox version being still done parallel due to agreements with Microsoft, but Square putting no further resources into it.


The "demand" for it on XBox apparently isn't as evident as you claim it to be and when I look at the sources provided by The_Echo it looks more like the demand is rather negligible and Square with its marketing department would certainly have a better overview over the overall demand than anyone of us here can claim.
Some few voices, regardless how loud, do not make a successful business decision.

 

[Alpha Baymax]

You... sure about that? I've seen more demand for a Switch port, and that console's only a year old. Hell, I saw more support for a Wii U (a console which has about half the lifetime sales of Xbox One) port of KHIII, usually presented with confusion over the existence of the Xbox version.
I specifically remember this petition being spread around for a while, and a slightly older one pre-2.8 I can't seem to find.
Not exactly successful endeavours.

Square Enix would know better than any of us what the demand looks like for Xbox One.
That KHIII is months away from release and still there is no 1.5+2.5 on Xbox should say everything.

The problem with Square Enix, specifically, the Kingdom Hearts team, is that they're not too concerned about market share and consistency. They just want to release a Kingdom Hearts game and leave it at that. The Kingdom Hearts team is the same team that would they spin off a bunch of Kingdom Hearts games into handheld systems only to create HD remasters for the games at the end of the PlayStation 3's lifecycle.

You could argue that Square Enix as a publisher (or even Disney for that matter) could have requested Xbox One releases for the remasters, but they've got other internal games that they own to be more concerned about.

Except that it doesn't counter anything.

Those games aren't Square nor is the fact that these were exceptionally released on XBox in the west a precedence for everything else suddenly following suit.

Do you know about business practices and actual costs? The technical side of things and how much manpower hours have to be poured into such an endeavour? If not, I would not lean so far out of the window about what is a hard thing and what not.

Again comparing apples and oranges, what does the Vita and games from completely other publishers and developers have to do with it?

Fact is that both FF XIII and FF XV did abysmal on the Xbox compared to the Playstation versions and due to Square's handling of the whole issue the possibility that they're only releasing the XBox version of KH III at all is because of a binding contract and not because they want to is certainly higher than any of the other scenarios.
When KH III was first unveiled at E3 2013 the "console race" was still open after the PS3 and XB360 being so close last generation and therefore Square may have initially opted to release for both consoles on considerations of safety (or Microsoft running the door in with coffers full of money), but when it became clear that the PS4 would "win" this generations console race they focused solely on the PS version with the XBox version being still done parallel due to agreements with Microsoft, but Square putting no further resources into it.

The "demand" for it on XBox apparently isn't as evident as you claim it to be and when I look at the sources provided by The_Echo it looks more like the demand is rather negligible and Square with its marketing department would certainly have a better overview over the overall demand than anyone of us here can claim.
Some few voices, regardless how loud, do not make a successful business decision.

That still doesn't deny the fact that they can elevate the brand of Kingdom Hearts to Xbox if they released the HD remasters onto Xbox One. Square Enix is not an indie studio, they're not going to suffer an extraordinary loss if they were to release Xbox One remasters for 1.5+2.5 Remix. In press releases, the CEO of Square Enix has highlighted that Xbox One is a console that's performing well in the west and they want to take advantage of that.

Square Enix's Xbox One release of this game is just one of many Square Enix's poor business decisions that I'll just never understand.