Disney's Kingdom Hearts Franchise

Something Dissidia related. I just googled Terra Branford.

Heh, good try.

I would like to see Tarzan again, even if its not possible anymore since Disney doesn't have the rights.

Eh, as much as I loved the Lion King movie, I didn't really like the Lion King world in KHII. Mostly due to the execution of the world's narrative. The acting in the world also left something to be desired. The one really good line in that world, imo, was the flashback of Simba yelling as Mufasa was killed, and that was archived audio from the original movie.

I've played just about every Kingdom Hearts game, minus Chain of Memories, Coded, Dream Drop Distance, and the .5 HD games, and generally enjoyed most of them, ridiculous story aside. However, I found Dream Drop Distance to be an absurdly underwhelming game. Which is a shame, because we finally got a Hunchback of Notre Dame world.

Personally, I was kinda hoping for a world that each Final Fantasy character called home. One we can explore, see, and interact with. I don't understand why Disney's worlds and lands are the only ones being used as a driving material for pushing the story forward.
This is a Square - Enix title, one working in conjunction with Disney; not a franchise owned and operated by Disney itself. According to Tetsuya Nomura, Disney has zero calls as to what worlds get approved for each game; but can freely suggest worlds to the design team. If this is in fact true as Nomura claims, then why haven't we seen any worlds for Final Fantasy characters? The Final Fantasy and Square aspect in the series is so thin, it may as well not be there at all. In fact, I cannot particularly recall the last time any Final Fantasy character had a major impact on the story as a whole, as opposed to "flavor enhancers" to this meaty dish of drama, melodrama, and self discovery.

The only ones I can think of were Squall, Cloud, Aerith, Yuffie, and Auron.

Neku (though not a final fantasy character) did have a pretty big impact on the lore, yet that's as far as I can see their own presence in the franchise.

To be honest, i don't count Radiant Garden as this world for them, as it is the perfect example of a mixed culture. A melting pot of Disney and Square; not a standalone world for Square's characters in and of itself. I sincerely hope we will see a world for these characters explored in full detail someday... Maybe call it something akin to Crystalis, Crystallia, or Crystarius?

Right-o. Time to counter by clarifying what I was getting at.  ( For the record, late night posts after a hellish workday are a bad idea! I sounded totally batty! )


Yes indeed, I do fully concede that Disney owns "most" of Kingdom Hearts. They own the original characters, worlds, most of the plot, etc. But they do still need permission from Square to proceed, in some circumstances. Legal complications bar Disney from doing tasks such as: Publishing previous titles, using existing plot with trademarked Square - Enix characters or properties, using custom designed gear such as the Lionheart keyblade, using Square - Enix exclusive character costume designs, and so on.


The fact of the matter is, if either party was to attempt taking total control, it would put a total halt to Kingdom Hearts if they attempted to publish the series without their other half. That in turn would lead to a dispute of ownership, which would lead to court hearings, after which we'd likely never see another Kingdom Hearts title again. To avoid this messy complication, both parties (be it Disney or Square) would need to totally scrap or retcon nearly all current content to clear themselves of possible litigation, and avoid using the brand name of "Kingdom Hearts".

I have strong reasons to doubt that Square - Enix would grant Disney ownership over their own original property; and without those permissions, Disney must go through Square - Enix for production rights regarding everything we have seen thus far. On the same hand, Disney will never grant full permission to Square - Enix over their properties; so the same ruling will always apply to them.

This means that both parties have a fairly split amount of rights over the series, in different areas; which would make them both in on the copyright and trademark in some way, shape, or form. Each of which having exclusive ownership and mostly equal stake.

For clarification, when asked about bringing into the series properties not owned directly by Disney Interactive (such as properties from the film department, Disney Studios):


This means this title is a a cooperative work at best with a limited reach on Square - Enix's end; even if Disney is the one filing the patents, and funding the show. While it is not exactly a fully bought out and contracted service, a la "Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars"; it does have a good bit of divided patent and trademark rights. After all, it was Square who originally approached Disney about the idea for Kingdom Hearts 1, not the other way around. In fact, it was Disney who restricted use of Mickey in the plot, unless Square released rights to the original characters.

Source: www.giantbomb.com/kingdom-hearts/3025-414/


As to Disney having a tight grip over what goes where in the franchise, and localization...



Further, Nomura was interviewed by TechTV a good while back and was asked about how the control of the Disney intellectual properties went. In both of these interviews, it doesn't sound like Disney's staff are the ones calling the shots here (at least not entirely); nor are they overseeing the team directly. It's more akin to nodding/shaking their as head to what concepts are brought before them, in an attempt to ensure quality control over Disney properties. So long as Square - Enix doesn't change those, it appears that Disney rarely steps in to dictate or put down absolute ideas.



Also, when RPGSite was speaking to Tai Yasue, we learned a little more about the process in recent years.


The part in italics here is "mostly allegory", for lack of a better term. Yasue is using an example of how Disney manages their intellectual properties when asked for permission to work with them; in direct comparison to how Square - Enix manages theirs. Remember, it was Square who originally approached Disney to get permission to design a game with Mickey as a playable character (which somehow led to a lion tailed Sora wielding a chainsaw blade); and it was Disney who originally wanted a game with Donald Duck as a core character (and omitted said chainsaw blade, as it didn't fit the context of the plot).

The result was the compromise of Kingdom Hearts, as stated above; which has led us to the series as we know it.
Disney owns the intellectual properties to particular characters and worlds; but it is important to remember that at the time of creation, this was a collaboration. Whether or not this arrangement has changed, I cannot say. I lack the current contract to look at (to gauge the full scope of permissions granted to each party); but I will happily reach out to Square for clarification on just how much they own, and how the process works.

Since we still don't have a clear answer, I'm just going to assume it is a 75/25 % split of ownership at the moment.

 I;m doing this mostly because Disney has digital rights to Sora and the gang; and all of the worlds. They do not own rights to Squall, Cid, Gunblades, Setzer, Vivi, Neku, Seifer, Moogles, etc., which belong to Square - Enix.




Given the context of these conversations over the years, I can safely wager that Disney does own most of Kingdom Hearts; but they had/(have?) minimal involvement in production directly. Their participation was willingly limited to no involvement in the franchise development outside of quality control (essentially it was all just a matter of saying "Sure, go for it.", once an idea was crafted by the team).


The copyright you see is a copyright to cover Disney branded worlds, characters, and intellectual properties (including again, Sora and his gang of misfits); not the entire spectrum of the Kingdom Hearts brand name. Simply put, they don't have those permissions at the core, since they don't have free reign over Square - Enix characters or products.

Though this is a bit more one sided as a comparison, I recall a similar situation with Nintendo and Square regarding the involvement of Geno and Mallow from Mario RPG (both of which are owned by Square - Enix) in future titles.

Due to conflict of opinion, Nintendo was not allowed to use these characters; and since Geno was a primary driving force for the main storyline of Mario RPG... Nintendo needed to redesign the concept from the ground up, and abandon the original brand's storyboard. This remained an issue for several years, until Nintendo was able to secure permissions to release the game (Mario RPG) digitally for eshop. Trademark issues were squabbled over; but in the end, Square - Enix managed to get a firm hold on these characters, and still managed to bar Nintendo from future use without permission.

This is why the Mario and Luigi RPG series is fundamentally different from the original Mario RPG. Both in terms of plot, and in terms of gameplay; and it is also why we have yet to see a return to the original concept.

With all of these factors in mind, it's pretty safe to say that each party's individual ownership is clear; but the over all production's laws and permissions are a total headache to navigate.


For the moment, one hand needs to wash the other, or we see things getting stuck.  Now, in recent years, Disney has taken a more proactive approach over publication; So I don't know what that could hold for future entries in the saga; but at the moment it appears to me that it is best to use the phrase "it's complicated", especially when including the current fundamentals in deciding future ownership and current ownership.

Either way, my sincerest apologies for my poorly worded post up above. That was entirely my error for misspeaking, and not properly formulating my comment.

Oh, it's not a problem at all! I do understand exactly where you're coming from.

Yes, indeed. Disney is really increasing their involvement in recent days with all of their properties. I suspect this is a proceeding toward eventually applying such talent to their own publishing company, with these properties. Disney is always looking to improve what they have to offer, and is driven to providing the best in their media and products. It's no wonder that they would like to become more involved, and see how things work behind the scenes, especially if in the future they would like to continue this project with a different publisher, aside from Square - Enix.

They have attempted this only once prior to becoming more proactive with the Square - Enix team, and that was in their attempt to publish and design Kingdom Hearts V Cast. This entry was developed by Superscape ,and published by Disney Interactive Media Group (formerly known as Walt Disney Internet Group).
Commercially, the game panned and received rather poor reviews. It was subsequently rendered non canon, and quickly replaced with another entry into the series.
As this title was not in line with Disney's standards of quality, I think it's perfectly sound for their staff to learn exactly what makes Kingdom Hearts tick.

I've never thought about this before, but now that you mentioned it, its true!
I remember myself trying to reach chests that were in higher places for like 30 minutes without success, only to discover after that there was an ability to reach higher places. This angered me at the time xD

Like I do. Final Mix is really harder or you're having a bad time because it has been a long time since you played the original? I would surely need some time to get the hang of it if I tried now since I've played it for the last time more than 4 years ago I think.