The Osaka, Japan office of Square Enix recently listed three new positions for its primary development division, all connected to some sort of HD Kingdom Hearts project. The studio is looking for a UI designer, a technical artist, and an effects designer, and as Gematsu spotted, the listings for all three specify "HD development of the Kingdom Hearts series." Google Translate and my own remedial Japanese skills confirm this, which raises the question: what is Square Enix working on?
Kingdom Hearts 3 was released at the start of this year on January 25. Its DLC, Kingdom Hearts 3: ReMind, is scheduled to release sometime this winter. Notably, winter probably doesn't mean this year, because while it starts at the end of December, winter will continue through mid-March 2020. Which is an important distinction, because if ReMind is four-ish months away, that would make it more plausible that Square Enix is trying to bulk up its team as the DLC approaches its final stretch.
Furthermore, the listings specify contract work for a six-month period (with the possibility of being promoted to full-time), which would roughly fit the timeline for ReMind. And even if ReMind is planned for this December - and I very much doubt that - it's by no means unheard of for studios to bring on some extra hands right at the end of a project.
In other words, it's entirely possible that these job listings are related to ReMind and not a new Kingdom Hearts game. That said, the fact that they specify HD development seems weird, and could suggest Square Enix has something new in store. Exactly what that might be is anyone's guess, but we do have some theories.
Given the 1.5, 2.5, Story So Far, and All-in-One collections the Kingdom Hearts series has already received, another HD re-release seems unlikely. However, it's possible that some sort of mega-bundle, or indeed Kingdom Hearts 3, could be ported to a new platform, namely Switch. We could also see more Kingdom Hearts 3 DLC after ReMind.
Failing that, an all-new Kingdom Hearts game isn't out of the question. As we said in our Kingdom Hearts 3 ending guide, there's plenty of room for the story to continue, and one particular cutscene practically screams sequel hook. With PS5 and Xbox Project Scarlett gearing up for a holiday 2020 release, a next-gen Kingdom Hearts 4 isn't necessarily impossible. That's all just speculation, though. Hopefully we learn more around the release of the ReMind DLC.
If you're looking to get into the latest entry ahead of ReMind's release, check out our Kingdom Hearts 3 tips.
Kingdom Hearts 2 streamer spends 2 hours grinding a 9999-hit combo, gets enough cash for 1.2 healing potions: "This is possibly the most stressful thing I've ever done"
Kingdom Hearts forced Naughty Dog to go "oh sh*t" while making Jak 2, because Square Enix's character models were so much more detailed that the platformer devs had to change course
