Kingdom Hearts III Director On Why Marvel And Lucasfilm Characters Aren’t Part Of The Franchise

Gamers have always seen Square Enix's popular Kingdom Hearts video gaming franchise as a concoction of various Disney properties, bringing in anime characters together with characters from various Disney films. Not only has Kingdom Hearts included characters from the Mickey Mouse House's animated movies, but it's also featured properties from Pixar Studios as well as Disney's live-action films like Tron and Pirates of the Caribbean.

However, despite the smorgasbord, Square Enix never really seemed to have the chance to include any of the characters from Disney's Marvel or Star Wars projects.

Speaking in a translated interview from the official companion book to Kingdom Hearts III (via CBR), the game's director Tetsuya Nomura explains why properties from Marvel and Lucasfilm have been absent from the franchise. Apparently, separate contracts have to be made with each company, and right now it seems like EA has control of Star Wars videogame development.

"In order to adapt those [properties] into a game, contracts must be made with each company separately, and there are cases where other game companies already have contracts, so although the Disney Group has indeed added those [properties], incorporating them into Kingdom Hearts isn't so simple," Nomura explained. "That's also the reason Mickey is in only one scene in [the original] Kingdom Hearts. At the same time, another company was releasing [Epic Mickey], so though we were denied his usage, we persisted and eventually got 'as long as you only have one scene, from far away, as a silhouette, with him waving his hand or something.' Since we had to make the best of the biggest [and only] chance we had, that's why that scene appears that way."

This news might seem disappointing to fans, but who knows? Disney might find a way to get characters like Luke Skywalker and Captain America into a new Kingdom Hearts game. After all, wouldn't the Mickey Mouse House want more big names in a new Kingdom Hearts title?

Kingdom Hearts III is on sale now for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

Read: Our First Look at Live-Action Sonic the Hedgehog