Summary

Kingdom Heartsis a franchise that doesn’t release new games very often and thus, every time one comes out, it feels like a special occasion. Because of this, it’s almost inconceivable to think that Square Enix and Disney wouldcancelorscrapa game in this series, but, weirdly enough, it has happened more than once.

While other popular gaming franchises have had it much worse, the fact that there still exists evidence of Square Enix and Disney canceling multipleKingdom Heartsprojectsis as mind-blowing as it is fascinating, not to mention that it has happened as recently as May 2025. Whether they were based on an idea that just didn’t work or were retooled into an entirely different project, the following five canceled/scrappedKingdom Heartsgames still deserve to be remembered.

5A Kingdom Hearts Fighting Game

Dissidia: Final Fantasy Was Originally Going To Be A Kingdom Hearts Spin-Off

There aren’t many trueKingdom Heartsspin-offs that do something completely different with their gameplay, but weirdly enough, series’ director Tetsuya Nomura almost made one in the mid-2000s.After developingKingdom Hearts 2, he realized that it would be interesting to make a fighting game set in a 3D environment, and he began playing with the idea of developing an officialKingdom Heartsfighting game.

However, he eventually scrapped this conceptbecause he felt uncomfortablewith making Disney characters fight each other. Thankfully, none of his ideas were wasted because he decided to turn the project into a 3D fighting game set in theFinal Fantasyuniverse instead,which later becameDissidia: Final Fantasy. On top of that, he managed to achieve something similar for theKingdom Heartsseries with the multiplayer mode ofKingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. As beloved as these two games are, fans are still wondering what a 3DKingdom Heartsfighting game would have looked and played like, seeing as the entire franchise is centered on flashy and over-the-top action.

4Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep - Volume Two –

Birth By Sleep Almost Got Its Own Sequel, And It Looked Really Intriguing

There’s no denying thatKingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleepis one of the most beloved entries in the entire series. Tthis prequel tells the story of three forgotten Keyblade wielders – Ventus, Aqua, and Terra – and it’s set ten years before the start of Sora’s journey. This game completely changed the lore and mythology of the franchise, while also introducing a bunch of lovable new characters that would play an important role in subsequent entries, especially inKingdom Hearts 3. However,when its enhanced edition,Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep Final Mix,was released exclusively in Japan in 2011, fans were quick to find a secret cutscene titledKingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep - Volume Two –, which heavily hinted at the idea of an upcoming sequel.

When Tetsuya Nomura was asked about this sequence in an interview, he stated that he hoped to tell that story someday, since it would show what happened to Aqua while she was trapped inside the Realm of Darkness. Of course, he was eventually able to do exactly that whenKingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep - A Fragmentary Passagewasincluded in theKingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologuecollection.However, that’s just a short 2-hour-long experience that also served as a prologue/tech demo forKingdom Hearts 3, not to mention that it didn’t include some of the story beats that appeared in the original secret movie from 2011 (mainly those that took place concurrently with the plot ofKingdom Hearts 1). While he never confirmed what happened, Nomura most likely wanted to make a fullBirth by Sleepsequel for the PSP and/or 3DS, but Square Enix told him to turn it into what later becameA Fragmentary Passage.

3Verum Rex

The Fake Video Game From The Toy Story World Almost Became Real

WhenKingdom Hearts 3players entered the long-awaitedToy Storyworld called Toy Box, they immediately saw something completely unexpected: a commercial for a fake video game titledVerum Rex, whichwas clearly supposed to be a parody/tribute to bothKingdom HeartsandFinal Fantasy. To make things even weirder, the main character of this game,Yozora, later appeared as the secret boss ofKingdom Hearts 3 ReMind, which confirmed that the world ofVerum Rex(also known as Quadratum) is important to the lore ofKingdom Heartsand that it’s going to have an key role in future installments.

However, the weirdest part of this strange chain of events is the fact thatVerum Rexalmost became a real Square Enix-developed video game of its own that players were going to be able to purchase and experience.AfterKingdom Hearts 4was announced in 2022,Tetsuya Nomura revealed in an interview that he and co-director Yasushi Yasuehad heavily considereddevelopingVerum Rexandmaking it the very next entry in the series.However, since they had also decided to makeKingdom Hearts 4around the same time, they ultimately scrappedVerum Rexbecause it would have been difficult to develop two console games at the same time. While it’s possible that this strange project may still become a reality someday, it seems that Nomura is already implementing most of his concepts and ideas intoKingdom Hearts 4.

2Kingdom Hearts Fragmented Keys (Kingdom Hearts Online)

Back in the mid-to-late 2010s, reports about a canceledKingdom Heartsgame, simply known asKingdom Hearts Fragmented Keys, began appearing all over the internet. This was apparently going to be an online multiplayer experience for mobile devices that would have featuredworlds based on popular IPs that (at the time) had never appeared before in the series, likeFrozen,Tangled,Wreck-it-Ralph,and evenStar Wars. Fans were obviously intrigued by this scrapped project. Fortunately, for them, some people who had worked on its development began uploadingnever-before-seen footageand concept artto the internet in early 2025.

Fragmented Keys(also known asKingdom Hearts Online) was a project that StudioEX proposed to Disney back in 2012 and, despite making some decent progress on it (with the help of at least four other studios), the company eventually canceled it in 2014. Neither Disney nor StudioEX gave a proper explanation as to whyFragmented Keyswas scrapped, but it may have been due to the fact that Square Enix—the gaming giant that had previously made every otherKingdom Heartstitle—was not involved in its development in any way. It may have also happened because multiplayer online games for mobile devices were not as big or profitable back in the early 2010s as they are now, so Disney may not have believed in the project just because of that. Needless to say, while the concept ofFragmented Keyssounds interesting and some of its Disney worlds would have been fun to experience, some of its other aspects, like its art style and character design, feel way too out of place in this franchise. Nevertheless, Disney and Square Enix eventually experimented with the concept of an online multiplayerKingdom Heartsgamewith the releases ofKingdom HeartsχandKingdom Hearts Union χ.

Another Canceled Multiplayer Game That Some Fans Even Got To Try Out

During the celebration ofKingdom Hearts’ 20th Anniversary back in 2022, Square Enix formally announced two brand-new games: the long-awaitedKingdom Hearts 4and another mobile title calledKingdom Hearts Missing-Link,which was going to continue the plot of the previous multiplayer entries in the series,Union χandDark Road.However, the most interesting part of this announcement was thatMissing-Linkwould be the first game of its kind to be in full 3D instead of using cartoony 2D character models and environments.

Most things aboutMissing-Linklooked and sounded really promising; its beautiful graphics, steampunk setting, a narrative that would reveal exciting new things about theKingdom Heartstimeline, and its dynamic 3D combat system. However, one specific aspect didn’t resonate very well with most fans: it would bean augmented reality game that relied heavily on the player’s location, similarly toPokemon GO. On top of that,Union χandDark Roadwere delisted from online stories in 2024, so manyKingdom Heartsfans started to question if relegating a plot-important mainline entry to mobile devices was even a good idea.

Nevertheless,Kingdom Hearts Missing-Linkreceived two different closed betas in 2023, and those who experienced the game were seemingly satisfied with its presentation and gameplay. Weirdly enough, after running those closed betas, Square Enix didn’t reveal anything else about this title for over two years, eventually missing its promised 2024 release and delaying it to 2025. Unfortunately, on June 11, 2025,Square Enix formally announcedthat it had canceled the development ofKingdom Hearts Missing-Linkbecause it had “determined that it would be difficult to offer a service that players would find satisfactory.” Considering thatMissing-Link’s story was going to be important for future installments (includingKingdom Hearts 4),fans are now wondering what Nomura and Square Enix are going to do with the game’s narrative, characters, worlds and assets, but there’s always a possibility that they will either retool it into a new game or implement everything intoKingdom Hearts 4.