After over a decade since the last numbered Kingdom Hearts game, anticipation is high for Kingdom Hearts III and Tetsuya Nomura's latest directed game. However, due to being shipped to retailers early, Kingdom Hearts III leaked out of a store in America two months ago, leading to entire playthroughs online months before the game officially releases. While certain scenes weren't on the disc to be patched later, it was still a lot of the game out there, and Nomura thinks the worldwide release is to blame.

Speaking to Japanese magazine Famitsu, translated by KHInsider, Nomura explained that he is reconsidering whether worldwide releases are something he will do in the future.

"I had expected to be able to relax, but I haven't been able to take a single break and I've been on my toes the entire time," Nomura joked with the interviewer. "We even had some trouble when someone overseas obtained a ROM through dishonest means."

Famitsu asked if Nomura had any comment about that incident.

"The situation has left our hands now, and I can't speak in much detail about it, but… false information was going around and people were thinking that a large number of copies were circulating from many leak sources," Nomura said. "In fact, we confirmed that it was limited to four copies, and there was only one leak source who was scattering information to make it seem as though there were many. I say it was only one, but thanks to that one, many people who were looking forward to KH3 were caused distress. It is a humongous shame. This incident proved that worldwide simultaneous releases are highly risky, and I feel obligated to reconsider them for any titles I am involved with in the future, at least for physical editions."

Previous Kingdom Hearts games have had localization delays of months before they released outside of Japan, which it seems like Square Enix is eager to get back to. Nomura's belief appears to be that this leak would not have occurred had Kingdom Hearts III been released exclusively in Japan at first, though the logic doesn't quite follow, as it would be more likely for western fans to be spoiled if they had to wait months later. Though it seems Nomura is less concerned about that.

Kingdom Hearts III releases on January 29 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. You can find our review of the game here and see what Kim Wallace thought about the culmination of years of waiting and story.

[Source: Famitsu via KH Insider]