Tetsuya Nomura is thinking about his retirement, and a possible conclusion to Kingdom Hearts

Tetsuya Nomura, the renowned Japanese developer who worked as a designer on Final Fantasy VII and directed the entire Kingdom Hearts franchise, recently did an interview for Young Jump magazine, where he revealed what his plans for Kingdom Hearts 4 are.

Per Siliconera, the Young Jump interviewer asked Nomura about the possible conclusion of the Kingdom Hearts series. The legendary developer jokingly responded that he only has a few years left before he retires, so he must consider what comes first. Although he specifically mentions that he at least plans to finish his work on the highly-anticipated Kingdom Hearts 4.

This response may catch fans off guard, since Nomura has barely mentioned his possible retirement in the past. While many of them claimed they were saddened by the news, most of them also agreed that, after taking a look at his extensive career working with Square Enix, his statement is completely reasonable.

With the release of Kingdom Hearts 3 in 2019, Nomura finally concluded the Dark Seeker Saga that he established in 2001 with the release of the first installment, meaning that he has been directing this franchise for over 20 years. Not to mention that he’s worked on many other Square Enix titles, like Final Fantasy VII Remake.

Passing off the torch to new writers

But the inevitable question is, what will happen to Kingdom Hearts if Tetsuya Nomura retires? It’s most likely that Disney and Square Enix will keep pushing for the development of new games, and fortunately for fans, Nomura is already testing the waters with a fascinating experiment: he revealed that he hired new writers that have never worked in the Kingdom Hearts franchise to write scenarios for the upcoming mobile game, Kingdom Hearts: Missing Link.

Ultimately, he is still in charge of writing the main script, but only time will tell if this experiment is going to benefit the franchise or not. The plot of Missing Link will cover a brand-new period in the timeline, so I’d be curious to see what new characters and worlds they will meet in this new title. It’s at least refreshing to know that Nomura is already hiring new people to bring new ideas to the series.

Another point of interest in the interview was the overwhelming complexity of Kingdom Hearts‘ story, something that has affected the franchise’s reputation over the years. Nomura acknowledged that the scenarios he writes can be quite complex, and even revealed that voice actors often have difficulty following the plot of the games. Nevertheless, he and his staff usually help other people comprehend the story, and he even encourages them to ask him about it whenever they need to do so.