It looks like Kingdom Hearts III is going to receive post-launch downloadable content.
Kingdom Hearts director Ketsuya Nomura wants DLC for the series’ upcoming installment, but says the team hasn’t really worked on it yet.
“In this day and age, most major titles do have some kind of content releases after their release,” Nomura told IGN at E3 2018 via translation. “So, since I considered Kingdom Hearts III to be one of those major titles, I do want to have something to add to your enjoyment of Kingdom Hearts III, so maybe you could continue to play a little longer than release, but we haven’t really thought of anything in detail yet.”
Nomura said that one feature that might return with DLC is a customization option in the “0.2: A Fragmentary Passage” part of Kingdom Hearts 2.8. Nomura clarified that the customization is not featured in Kingdom Hearts III since the developers are preoccupied with finishing the core game.
“…The development team does need some kind of extra time on their hands to be able to do something like that,” Nomura said. “Because we are so busy trying to complete Kingdom Hearts III, we just don’t have any time to do that right now. But I think there is potential to maybe do something like that after release.”
The only DLC the Kingdom Hearts franchise has ever received was for Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 on PlayStation 4. An additional scene for Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days and “Kingdom Hearts Theater”, which has all the cutscenes from Kingdom Hearts in a “theater mode”, were released for free in June 2017.
Kingdom Hearts III debuted two new trailers on Monday at the Square Enix and Sony E3 conferences. One trailer showed off a level based on Frozen and the other showed off a Pirates of the Caribbean level.
Kingdom Hearts III will be released for PS4 and Xbox One on Jan. 25.