Wish Kingdom Hearts Was Native On Switch? A True Port Is Still "Undecided"

Really? It's because of the storage capacity?

Just force Switch Users to buy a micro SD card, problem solved.

I wouldn't look too much into it. It feels like PR talk for "no, no native version, only cloud".

In other words be grateful for what we give you and hand over your money

Translation: You're getting the Cloud version, but we're happy to hear from fans even though we're not going to do anything about it because it's too hard.

@HotGoomba yeah. They could literally just make it digital only.

But you have physical copy stans here though. And a lot of them are Switch owners

My wallet votes no. I'm convinced that KH 1.5 and 2.5 could have been ported, and released on cards. I'm not interested in Cloud-based gaming.

They could just sell them as download only with no cart option. Square is keen on doing that in the States anyway.

The...storage capacity?
So, instead of slapping a big warning on the store page, saying "Requires SD card this big", they went with hosting the game on a streaming server farm instead?
What?
Of all the weird excuses...

You want feedback, SE?

Release KH natively or don’t bother. I would rather have no port over a cloud version.

I would even take digital only

Bioshock Collection ends up being close to 50gb, it's hard to imagine storage is really the issue unless they wanted it all in a single package.

These kinds of decisions are just baffling to me. Obviously reworking it for switch would take time and money and is probably non-trivial otherwise it would have already happened. But at the same time, it's hard to imagine these games not selling like crazy on Switch. Certainly far better than the FF games on Switch. Kingdom Hearts is basically tailormade for the Switch demographic - I can't think of any non-Nintendo singleplayer series better suited to families, kids, and gaming addicts.

Just port PS2 versions of Kingdom Hearts 1 and Kingdom Hearts 2 (not the remastered version of them) to Switch there's no reason to not do that at least

Well no wonder 1.5+2.5 takes up space. They have so much video content thx to the DS titles being told with cutscenes and audio.
Perhaps get rid of that or compress it a little.
Heck they could even make that content streamable. Yes that content is fine to be delivered by the cloud because you’re not playing anyway.

Lemme guess, we have to show our support by purchasing the cloud versions first until they consider giving us the real deal. Haven't heard that one in a while.

At least port one game? Guess I'd want the most recent, KH3? I haven't played any of them.

@MajinSoul

Only that it probably has the opposite effect. They’ll see that they can get away with getting easy money on cloud versions and you’ll never see a native port from SE again

@HotGoomba

For real. 2K isn’t afraid to do that considering every 2K release is about 35-50 gigs.

To be honest, I don't really have a massive problem with cloud versions. I played "Forgotten City" on Switch and it's a great game. If you don't want to play a cloud version, then you don't have to. I really don't understand all the angst - nobody is forced to do anything and if you REALLY want to play these games, you can, on other consoles.

tried cloud games on Switch before and it wasn't good but tried on Stadia and it was perfect no delays or anything so pretty sure not my internet

Kind of makes sense that it's to do with storage. I imagine this is why GTA V isn't yet on the machine. Maybe we'll get a cloud version of that down the line too.

@Kirigirisu So you you’re not aware that a huge part of the Switch players prefer playing in handheld mode, many of them play while traveling. Playing cloud versions does not work well on the go.
It does not even work that well over Wi-Fi. It introduces input lag, and anyone who have defeated some KH super bosses like Sephiroth will probably tell you that input lag would make these battles very very frustrating.

I would rather have physicals, but digital is also better than cloud. Call me a cloudphobe if you like, but I'll NEVER buy a game that is cloud only.

Translation:
Not profitable enough. Yes there's plenty of demand, but the cost of porting a dozen individual games for a single $60 price tag isn't worth it. Especially since the cartridge would have to be 32gb or 64gb, and digital only would limit sales.

And if we released 1.5 and 2.5 separately for $60, which would be profitable, gamers would rant and rage with "why does a game that's $20 on PS cost $120 on Switch".

So shut up and take this cloud version. We only prioritize PlayStation gamers. You are second rate customers to us.

Never even thought about the storage thing. If this was released digital exclusive then I can guarantee certain people on here would be having a meltdown and threatening to boycott.

Bruh. Are 64 GB carts THAT expensive to make?!

Storage capacity? Is he talking about disk space or memory? I assume disk space, but a shortage of memory would make more sense than a shortage in disk space as to why they're not native versions. Either way, I'm waiting to see how much these games are going to cost, but I'll probably end up getting all three.

@DaniPooo Good point, I wasn't actually considering that, I'm a docked player 99% of the time. You've converted me, this sucks for handheld players who use the Switch whilst travelling.

I do play cloud games over WiFi and have no issues (I can't tell there's a difference) but I do think my WiFI is pretty good in Canada, whereas in my native UK, it kind of sucked.

Whoa didn't hear about this! It's obviously not ideal, but I'll play the cloud version of KH3 before I'll buy a new system for two or three games no problem! 😃

"We believe that the Cloud version is currently the best way to deliver the Kingdom Hearts series to Nintendo Switch players"

My crappy internet says otherwise

@anoyonmus What did physical games have to do with this?

Not happening any time soon, maybe on the Switch 2 in 4 years time.

A non-cloud version is never coming lol

@NatiaAdamo @nessisonett BOTW is only like 13GB. Even KH3 fits on a card, they just don't want to put the effort and time into optimising the game's file size.

I get that it would have been a ton of work getting them natively, but reality is that most Switch owners are not going to buy the cloud versions of these games. I have to think that the cost of porting these games natively would have been significantly offset by the amount of Switch owners who would have purchased them, there is no way they would not have turned a profit on them, they are probably losing money on their decision (in comparison) to go with cloud versions instead of actual ports.

@nessisonett I mean, the cloud version is ultimately a digital exclusive with an extra step, less stability, and less ownership.

I'm sure many would've taken the storage hit over having to stream a game.

What feedback you appreciate from the fans? Didn’t you hear that 99% will not care about cloud version? It’s pretty clear that they don’t care to make any money from this. I waited so long for a proper kh port for switch, and now when we get this joke i am so sad, cause i thought this games are so good to play in handheld.

Storage capacity… is this a joke?

Did they really think stuffing all the games in one cartridge was the only option they could have done besides Cloud? Why not split them apart like what Switch did for Crysis Switch ports? Incompetence at its finest. Meanwhile I played Witcher 3 and all of its lengthy dlc in one cart.

They could also just do digital only. You know like the Bioshock collection and Borderland collection I have. There are big Micro SD cards out at this point.

Also pretty sure 99.9% percent of the fanbase didn’t ask for Cloud ports for 1.5 and 2.5

Sorry but cloud ports will never be acceptable in any forms. Also thanks for telling us how lazy Tetsuya Nomura is, I expect better from that guy.

Square really dropped the ball with this they couldn't even properly port these games over.

Kingdom Hearts on the go surely is still on the table. As is all the other cloud based games (mgranted maybe on the next gen Switch)

Just cancel the cloud gaming on switch already, pretty sure no one asking for it.

@mjharper I am sure he means system memory.

There are plenty of Switch games that effectively force players to buy a SD card due to their size, but they still exist on Switch as native ports anyways.

Laughable excuse.

Anything Cloud here is easy pass. And I hope everyone uses their wallet power here.

Good lord, what I wouldn't do to have these games on Switch as physical or at least digital releases.

We want KH on Switch badly. But not as Cloud-only releases.

Until they bring it "non cloud" my wallet stays closed. Lol.

Storage is such a weak excuse for this. I know some people would get up in arms over it, but if cartridge space is such an issue, just put 1.5 on the cart and make people download 2.5. It'd still be better than this cloud nonsense.

Also, it doesn't make sense if his point would be that it wouldn't fit in the base onboard storage. You can buy a 128GB SD card for about twenty bucks these days, and if that additional cost is too much of a financial stretch, I would seriously question whether you should be buying a Switch or any games for it.

No effort from square enix which will result in poor sales, if only they put the effort into doing proper ports they would bring in more sales meaning more money.

So uhhh... Why not just put them on the bigger Switch carts? Or let people download the games they want separately? Remember, the reason why these games are so big is because of the bloated movie files they have.

If the cloud version was used to cover dev time on native ports, that would patch out the cloud versions, that would be one thing.

But just a cloud version is a massive deal breaker for everyone.

Guess Squeenix was underwhelmed with the sales of Dragon Quest Heroes dilogy they dished out a 32 Gb card for and remain less than enthused to invest in such volumes now? Oh well, since the interest for the native ports was the default goal, one can keep the fingers crossed for them later down the road or next gen. Although these issues may also dampen the odds of FFXIII saga into a similar future ballpark - unless Virtuos is doing some compression wizardry as we speak, the first game was never known for a modest size either. But I've always assumed they could just go the way of digitals and extra downloads like with FFX.

@mariomaster96 Japan: "what's crappy internet?"

If not for all the translations being long done and the Sora Smash being internationally hyped, perhaps that's where these cloud versions would have even stayed. Although even now they're skipping Russian eShop just like all the other cloud versions - Squeenix may be overly optimistic about America and Europe, but clearly hold no illusions about CIS countries.😅

If they'll bother getting them running natively on Switch, I'll bother spending my hard earned cash on the games. Simple as that.

Time to fire up my New 3DS XL KingDom Hearts game from back when to enjoy them.

Hazama: "At this moment in time, the production of a native version is undecided. We believe that the Cloud version is currently the best way to deliver the Kingdom Hearts series to Nintendo Switch players, but we are always excited to hear to feedback from our fans and want to thank them for all their support."
Lamest excuses I every heard nothing impossible. Witcher 3/Crysis 1 and no 2, 3 are coming on Switch how much excuses do they need. Fan feedback I think he heard it loud and clear already. I think Disney is the culprit behind preventing this from happening. They are looking for $$$ Cloud Services not giving the Game buyers option.

There is no good option for Squeenix here. If they do cloud, people complain. If they port then there is the risk of optimization issues as they’ve stated that it has been difficult when they tried. So people will complain. If they go digital only then the “hidden tax” of having to upgrade your SD card (even though that option is way cheaper than what xbox and PS require) then people will complain. If they make it digital only to cut costs then the physical only mob will complain. If they make it physical it will either have a download requirement or will have to be split up (and will not be cheap). And no matter what the price is, people will complain.

Honestly, if I were a project manager at SE and someone laid this out where the options were consumer backlash and potentially low profits or just continuing to ignore that consumer base but still get a cut for smash… I would have vetoed the whole thing and said let them buy sora and a PlayStation.

@SwitchForce Nah I think this is a Square thing. Disney were the ones who commissioned the ports to other platforms even though Square was fine with things just being how they were

@Sora181 But tell me who owns the likeness of those Disney character-clearly not Square thing from IP. They had every chance to make a Physical Switch version the question is they just wanted $$$ rather then make a Physical product. They can charge FULL price for Cloud game and never have to invest in a Product.

Brings back this:
Digital Distribution Vs Physical Media and True Ownership
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdsWQGAlopk

@SwitchForce Disney owns the IP, but Square has the final say in terms of how to port the game. Disney probably told them "Put the game on switch, we don't care how" and this is what they did. Considering that Square f***ed switch users over with Final Fantasy XV, I wouldn't put this pass them

@HotGoomba you have some Switch owners that refuse to buy a game that does not have a physical copy. Basically, I don’t think KH would fit in a cartridge and then those physical copy stans won’t buy it and then the game probably won’t sell well. And SE will stop putting KH games on Switch

He's excited to hear feedback but I think the feedback was already overwhelmingly clear.

@Sora181 It's a coin flip, I can see Disney forcing this to save money, but they're barely involved in gaming these days. I can easily imagine Square only focusing on cloud titles for money in a combination of greed and incompetence. If they can butcher a major entry of their biggest series like FFXV, Square could certainly mess up Kingdom Hearts.

Words! Just words! They aren't deciding jack except how much to charge for these cloud versions.

Just put the damn games out. Cloud games suck. I play them and they are fine, but it's not what I want to play on my Switch. I'd pick up Stadia if that's how I want to game.

Square Enix is leaving money on the table by not putting out versions of FFI-FFVI, Chrono Trigger and Kingdom Hearts on the Switch. Why are they so damn dumb?

If Square-Enix decided to put a full compilation of cloud versions for all their games currently on the Switch, as a subscription service in the style of either Google Stadia or mobile Xbox Game Pass, then MAYBE I would consider paying for a subscription. Buying access to a single streamed game sounds incredibly absurd. Unless you spent all your time playing those games, that price is basically a very expensive subscription

They should just port them natively to switch and quit making excuses (except 3 though that one is understandable). The point of the switch is that its portable and cloud gaming makes it so much harder to be portable.

BRUH my internet is AWFUL!!! Just make it digital only so people with terrible internet or handheld only players could enjoy. Jeez🙄

@BanjoPickles totally with you. Unless they release a digital at least for KH1 and KH2, it’s a no buy! Spending money for games I can’t own is ridiculous!

I will buy a download or cart version on Day 1. I will never buy a cloud version.

My suggestion is separate the series into 4 separated games and release them in physical with way cheaper price (1.5 , 2.5 , 2.8 , 3)

Otherwise, get the PS4 version and it saves your day.

"we are always excited to hear to feedback from our fans"

Where do I submit my feedback?

Give game now.

Except, it's not "bringing" anything to the Switch, it's not a "port". They just slapped the games' ISO images onto a streaming server. Oh, so much effort lol.

‘We are excited to hear feedback’

PR talk. Nobody is excited to hear negative feedback.

@MathGeekDave same.

If it’s a cloud ‘option’ such as Microsoft’s XCloud, sure, i’ll try that. But cloud only games are a no go for me, even though my internet is very good.

@PickledKong they don't, but ok

@anoyonmus Fair point. I prefer physical games, but I'll never not buy a game just because it's digital-only.

LOL. I still can't believe they're pulling this sh...tuff.

@HotGoomba same here. Although nowadays I buy more digital copies games (Just now, I have picked up the Ace Attorney trilogy on the eshop for $20), mainly because these games don't have physical copies but I do have physical games myself.

Edit: I know there is the Ace Attorney Turnabout Collection but I don't want to spend $59.99 on it because I want to spend $59.99 on Dread once the patch gets out

@Friendly there is gonna be a lot of feedback.

SE: We want feedback
Me: I will give you feedback. RELEASE THESE NATIVELY on the console (at least make it digital only).

@PickledKong They could just port the PS2 Final Mix versions then? Increasing the resolution and replacing the midis for the ReMixed versions isn't hard as people have done that with the PS2 versions on emulators. Also they ran at 30fps, just like the PS3 collections. While I vastly prefer 60fps, I'll take 30 if the rest of the game isn't compromised.

@Znake

It’s just silly, and a completely missed opportunity. By including Sora as a playable character in a game that has sold upwards of thirty million copies, they created a unique opportunity to expand their fan base by releasing the games on a platform that makes total sense for the franchise....then promptly shot themselves in the foot, in the same Direct, by taking the lazy, Cloud-based approach.

Cloud based games give a big middle finger to us Australians out there.

So a Witcher 3 port is great on Switch and The Outer Worlds is actually pretty good these days on Switch but Kingdom Hearts 1 is an impossibility? What on earth is he talking about?

I mean, square is still "undecided" about releasing the Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters on Switch, and that's a VASTLY easier thing to do, so is any of this AT ALL a surprise?

just shows that square enix are just dam lazy reason why no one should even bother touching the cloud versions till they decided to put some effort and give us a physical versions of the first 2 games.

They're struggling with thr excuses here

@KnightsTemplar - This right here. Hearing them say things like “we think cloud is the best way to play KH on Switch” is a complete slap in the face for those of us who can’t even access these cloud games. Why they don’t at least release 1.5+2.5 physically and digitally (I’m pretty sure the file size won’t be that large, given these are remastered PS2 games) is baffling when they clearly have no qualms doing so for every other platform.

Guess it’s a good thing I’ve already got the series on PS, so I,m not really missing out, but it would’ve been nice to be able to play the older titles on the go.

@Joeynator3000

“Your money isn’t enough for us to do this.”

@BanjoPickles yeah that is so lazy. I hated the reps saying it would take years of work-which is bullcrap- getting the license for Sora wasn’t made yesterday. If they started working on 1.5 first when agreed on the license, they easily could have had the first game digitally on Switch when Sora releases in Smash, while working on 2.5, or maybe they could easily port these two. I would be even fine with just 1+2 which would mean minimal effort. Lazy Squre Enix and stupid Nintendo for not forseeing this uproar-when they allow unacceptable cloud gaming on a portable system!!!!! This is an unprecedented FAIL! Nintendo pushes a system that’s supposed to work on the GO! They go against their own marketing! What an oxymoron!

I dob't have any interest in the series anyways, but Cloud Version just cements that.

Not saying I would never buy a Cloud game though. The whole "physical" thing is a bit... whatever.

It's not like I can play my physical NES collection anymore, they so old, or even feel the need to tediously set up my Wii with all the peripherals for some physical action. I OWN that stuff but would happily pay for easier ways to play some of those. Also gave away all my DVDs because Netflix is easier, even if they don't always have the titles I want.

I feel the whole discussion is a bit moot. Physical cartridges deteriorate. You're not going to want to play these games for the rest of your lives, so cloud CAN be fine.

I am a sucker for pretty box art though.

Well a sensible solution would be slap on the box that the game needs a memory card of at least X size to play.

Elder Scrolls 4 dlc Shivering Isles, the Hitman and Metal Gear Solid HD remasters on the Xbox 360 all required the external hard drive add-on to even play. Same with the N64 and the expansion pack.

There are plenty of other examples.

Those comments certainly don't spark any confidence that we will ever see a native release. Those comments just tell me that they thought about, figured it was too difficult, and they decided to go the easy route to avoid the headaches. Typically when you make a decision like that, you don't reverse course. I wish I had a slightly more stable connection so I could try out the cloud version of Kingdom Hearts 3 though. That one is very understandable for not being able to run natively. The other ones? Not so much.

Well, if they do a native port of any of these games I'll buy them day one!

@Ryu_Niiyama Sometimes as a dedicated fans of the franchise you love and respect you gotta make your voice heard and complaining isn't just nonsense. If a complaint is legit then it needs to be done. Remember the Final Fantasy VII remake didn't just happen for no reason, it's the complain from true FFVII fans that made that happen. This direction of cloud offering for the Kingdom Hearts collection for Switch could be done on Switch especially the older games, to continue to denied and take the lazy easy way out ain't gonna work.

Unless they can prove that none of the games can't be done on Switch natively will they get a pass but we already see games that were way beyond some of those KH games and those made to Switch just fine. Games like BioShock, Borderlands, Metro, Doom Eternal, Wolfenstein, Dark Souls, Dragon Quest XI S, Ni no Kuni 1 & 2, Mortal Kombat 11, etc. There's just no reason why DS, 3DS, GBA, PS2, PS3, and PSP ports of those can't be done on Switch.

@Specter_of-the_OLED I never said complaining was “nonsense”. What are you talking about? Did you tag me by mistake?

Not paying for games that you don't own, can only play online and once eShop gets shut can never play again. Very lazy not to port these properly. Square and Disney on Switch are a perfect fit, cloud gaming is not!

They simply don't want to have to put the effort into it. The Remixes are notoriously poorly done, to the point that the PS3 versions struggled to run properly. Loading times were atrocious, even mid battle. Using a drive form or summon, you could easily go make a sandwich. FPS also dipped way more than appropriate for early PS2 and PSP games.

To make the Switch run those properly they'r probably have to spend some money on actually optimizing something for once, and we all know Square would rather go bankrupt than put effort into quality.

Don't make my day!

@Kirigirisu Okay, if you're willing to hand them the money to purchase new consoles just to play a couple games. Otherwise, don't be so stupid with your suggestions. How narrow minded. If people wanted them on switch they've either wanted the portability of it, or because the lack of other hardware. What's next? "Just get better internet."?

Looking into it, 1.5 and 2.5 could work natively due to them being PS3 games and those exact versions were ported to Xbox One. 2.8 and 3 are running on Unreal Engine 4 and could be downgraded because of the ability to make an existing project downgraded to a previous version of Unreal Engine with the click of a couple of buttons. Even then, the Switch can run Unreal Engine 5, confirmed by Epic Games themself. Square Enix has no excuses.

Trust me, I did my research before I commented.

Instead of cloud version could they have did like the PS4 all in one package. Add a slip case with 3 different game disc.

After a quick DuckDuckGo search, I have my opinion on this:

Given that Kingdom Hearts 1 on Playstation 2 Is 2GB and Kingdom Hearts 2 on Playstation 2 is 2GB, they could have just thrown widescreen on the original versions, NOT the versions in 1.5, 2.5, or 2.8, and release them either separately or as a 1+2 collection, and then have Kingdom Hearts 3 (30GB) be a cloud version.

I have no idea how game development works, but if they can get a game like HellBlade running on switch (haven't played, don't have interest sorry), give Kingdom Hearts 2 a chance...

Edit: Just realized Kingdom Hears 2.8 doesn't have Kingdom Hearts 2. Why did they call it Kingdom Hearts 2.8.

I really want to not buy it to make a statement, but I’m dying to play at least the first two, so I might.