Tomura: “We may have announced [Kingdom Hearts 3] a little too early.”

It was the best moment of the Sony conference, up there alongside Final Fantasy XV: Kingdom Hearts 3 – in development. It’s been a long time coming and confirmation that we may soon be able to get our grubby little mitts on one of the most requested sequels of all time was overwhelming. Well, we may need to reel in our excitement a little bit. Series creator Tetsuya Nomura has told Famitsu that, while it was a necessary announcement to make, it may well have been a little too early.

“Since the release of Kingdom Hearts II, I believe that many fans were feeling impatient due to our continuous releases of spin-off titles, so we decided to announce it at the same time as Final Fantasy XV. However, looking at the current development status, I think we may have announced it a little too early.”

Although this isn’t that surprising an announcement – Final Fantasy XV won’t hit shelves until probably the end of 2014 – it’s still rather disappointing. It means we may not actually be able to play the next game in the series until 2016, which if nothing else will teach us to appreciate all the spin-offs we’ve been given over the years.

The other plus point here is that publishers are planning to support the Xbox One long-term and have made investments regardless of initial sales. Here’s hoping this isn’t a decision that backfires.