Update:

Kingdom Hearts franchise director Tetsuya Nomura has released a statement regarding the alleged leaks of Kingdom Hearts 3 , confirming he and the development team have been investigating the situation.

Via Kingdom Hearts on Twitter

Nomura's statement confirms the team is both aware of the leak and how it occurred and is "sorry to see this caused concern amongst our fans who are excited for the release."For fabs concerned with spoilers, Nomura did note that the long-awaited sequel's epilogue and secret movie — which are the biggest spoilers in this game" — are not yet included in the copy behind the leaks. His full statement reads:Of course, there is still potential for some leaks, and Nomura has asked for players' "continued support" in preventing the leaks from spreading.Original story follows:

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Every Confirmed Kingdom Hearts 3 World 14 IMAGES

It appears that copies of Kingdom Hearts 3 are out in the wild, and some who have gotten their hands on them have reportedly begun leaking parts of the game online.Reported by Eurogamer , various videos and images of the leak have made their way online, including the title screen, gameplay and more. An individual was allegedly selling copies of the game on the Facebook marketplace (a listing which has since been removed), and many fans are wary of encountering spoilers for a sequel they have been waiting 13 years to play.For those who want to be proactive about avoiding spoilers for Kingdom Hearts 3, many websites, including Twitter, have advanced muting options that allow users to block out key phrases entirely. Similar blocking tools can be used for browsers, search engines and more.While a game leaking this far ahead of its release date is rare, Kingdom Hearts 3 finished development back in November , and it’s plausible for copies of the game to end up in the wild with such a large window.For more on Kingdom Hearts 3, check out every world confirmed for the game so far , the key art used for the game’s box , and the limited edition Kingdom Hearts 3 PS4 Pro bundle. Kingdom Hearts 3 is coming to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One worldwide on January 29.

Colin Stevens is a news writer for IGN, and he’s waited literally half of his life for KH3. Follow him on Twitter