While Kingdom Hearts III is building up for the finale of a drama lasting over a decade, it seems there is still plenty of drama in the real world as the game leaked early.
Sources on this story are from Twitter users, however the incident did lead to an official response (more on that later). We have looked into the most consistent statements.
At some time prior to December 15th, as many as one hundred copies of the game were stolen. The thief then managed to sell around thirty copies of the game to the public through the Facebook marketplace for around $100 dollars each.
Many took to twitter in the following days, warning others that potential spoilers could become widespread. The game’s Director Tetsuya Nomura gave a statement via the official Kingdom Hearts Twitter account on December 15th.
“We’re aware that a small portion of KINGDOM HEARTS III has been circulating online before its official release. We are also aware as to how this has all happened. We’re sorry to see this caused concern amongst our fans who are excited for the release.
The whole team has been working together since yesterday night (Japan time) to investigate what we can do to better this situation, but first we would like o ask that you do not share these videos.
The game’s epilogue and secret movie, which are the biggest spoilers in this game, are planned to be released at a later date just in case, so they will not be shown before the game’s release.
We want everyone to be able to equally experience the full game after its release, so we ask for your continued support on this matter.
We’re also very grateful that our fans have been warning each other already about the spoilers. Thank you very much.
We’re one month out from the release. Let’s enjoy the game together when it releases on January 29, 2019.”
One of the game’s voice actors Quinton Flynn (Axel) mentioned on Twitter “Last I heard they captured the guy responsible.” – Though obviously this is not official confirmation.
In other news, you can view the game’s final trailer here. In case you missed it, you can also find our hands on preview for Kingdom Hearts III here.
Kingdom Hearts III is launching for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One January 25th, 2019 in Japan and Asia, and on January 29th in North America and Europe.
