Square Enix dropped one of the biggest surprises of the June 2026 Nintendo Direct today, confirming that Kingdom Hearts IV will be available on Nintendo Switch 2 at launch and delivering the most substantial look at the long-awaited sequel in years.
The reveal landed near the end of the showcase and sent fans into a frenzy. The new footage showed Sora in a grittier, more realistic setting than the franchise has ever attempted, with large-scale Kaiju-style battles raging through the rain-soaked streets of a modern urban environment that looks strikingly like Tokyo’s Shibuya district. No release date was announced. You can watch the video below.
Square Enix also confirmed that native Switch 2 collections of the earlier Kingdom Hearts titles are coming to the platform, replacing the cloud-only versions that launched on the original Switch in 2022. Players who own the Switch versions will be able to transfer their save data. A free demo of Kingdom Hearts III focused on its Toy Story world is available on the Nintendo eShop today.
The Kingdom Hearts IV announcement had been rumored for months, with the eShop demos for the older collections quietly disappearing from the storefront in recent weeks, fueling speculation that a major announcement was imminent. Today confirmed it.
Our Take
Kingdom Hearts IV looks like nothing else in the franchise, and that is both exciting and a little nerve-wracking. The Shibuya setting and Kaiju-scale battles are a sharp tonal departure from the colorful Disney worlds fans have loved for two decades. But Sora is still Sora, Donald and Goofy are still along for the ride, and the combat looks like it carries the kinetic energy the series is known for. The Switch 2 at-launch confirmation is a genuine statement of intent from Square Enix, and after years of near-silence on this game, seeing real gameplay is a relief. This one is going to be worth watching closely.
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