When Kingdom Hearts Director Tetsuya Nomura revealed that two more development teams have been created to help with future KH titles earlier today, most people probably expected a long wait before finding out more. But lo and behold, this afternoon the Internet was introduced to Project Xehanort: A mobile game that will delve more into the backstory of the series' ultimate antagonist, set to launch in spring 2020.
As of now not much is known about this "all-new Kingdom Hearts experience" beyond its release window for iOS, Android, and Amazon devices; its inclusion of in-app purchases of some kind; and that it may have some connection to the series' previous mobile title Kingdom Hearts: Union Cross considering a blurb about future updates to that game is also present on the official Project Xehanort webpage.
It has also been revealed that Project Xehanort is not actually the name of this mobile title that will add another piece into an already verbose Kingdom Hearts story. Between now and 6:59 p.m. PT on January 28, a "Guess the Name" contest is being hosted by the game's Twitter, in which fans can follow the social media account and suggest what they think it might be called using the hashtag "KHNameContest" for the chance to be one of ten people who will receive "something big."
To be clear, this is apparently not an opportunity for fans to name Project Xehanort. The name is already chosen; this campaign simply wants people to guess what they think it will be called — which is an interesting marketing gimmick in a series famous for having games with bizarre, cryptic titles.
As of this writing the Twitter post for the contest has accumulated over 1,500 comments, many of which are attempts to name the game with varying degrees of sincerity.
With DLC for Kingdom Hearts 3 that will add everything from more characters to difficult bosses on the cusp of being released, it's great to see that the series is also hedging its bets on future titles meant to presumably help scale things down and focus on fleshing out individual stories.
At this point fans will have to bide their time dual-wielding Keyblades as Sora in the Re:Mind DLC before finding out what Xehanort is up to in his upcoming mobile game. Chances are more will be revealed after the "Guess the Name" contest ends, so stay tuned for that.
Project Xehanort will be available on Amazon, Android, and iOS devices in spring 2020.