Tag Archives: D23

News

D23 Asia Is Coming to Singapore — June 2027 at Marina Bay Sands

Leave a comment

Singapore is about to become the first city in Southeast Asia — and only the third location globally — to host Disney’s flagship fan convention. D23 Asia: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event has been confirmed for 25–27 June 2027 at the Sands Expo & Convention Centre, Marina Bay Sands, with ticket sales opening in November 2026. For Disney fans in the region, it’s the closest the D23 experience has ever been.

What Is D23 Asia?

D23 Asia The Ultimate Disney Fan Event Singapore 2027 logo
Image courtesy of The Walt Disney Company

D23 is Disney’s official fan convention — the name references 1923, the year Walt Disney founded his first studio. The event brings together films, Disney+, theme parks, merchandise, live stage presentations, and direct access to the creative talent behind Disney’s biggest properties under one roof. Think exclusive sneak peeks, special announcements, celebrity appearances, behind-the-scenes sessions, and shopping, all aimed squarely at enthusiast fans.

The main D23 Expo runs every two years in Anaheim, California. This Singapore edition is a dedicated Asia-Pacific version — and while no specific panel lineup has been confirmed yet, previous D23 Asia events in Japan featured Marvel franchise updates, theme park expansion previews, and appearances by the productions’ creative teams.

D23 Asia: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event Coming to Singapore in 2027 — via Disney on YouTube

Venue and Dates

The event runs across three days — 25, 26, and 27 June 2027 — at the Sands Expo & Convention Centre, the large events space connected to Marina Bay Sands. This is the same venue that regularly hosts major conventions and trade fairs, so it has the floor space and infrastructure for a multi-day fan event of this scale.

Specific ticket prices and pass tiers have not yet been announced. Ticket sales open in November 2026. Disney has indicated further programming details will be shared via the official D23 Asia website and its Instagram channels closer to the event.

What Singapore Fans Can Expect

D23 Asia Singapore 2027 fan event announcement Disney
Image courtesy of The Walt Disney Company

Disney has outlined D23 Asia as featuring “live stage presentations with special announcements, interactive experiences, curated merchandise, sneak peeks, behind-the-scenes moments, thrilling performances, shopping, surprises, and more.” That is intentionally broad at this stage, but based on prior D23 editions the format typically includes:

  • Hall presentations for major franchises (Marvel, Star Wars, Disney Animation, Pixar)
  • Disney+ Asia-Pacific Originals previews and meet-the-creator sessions
  • Theme park announcements (Asia-Pacific fans will be watching for updates on Tokyo Disneyland, Shanghai Disneyland, and Hong Kong Disneyland)
  • Exclusive D23 merchandise available only at the event
  • Cosplay, fan community showcases, and interactive activations

For gaming fans: Kingdom Hearts IV, Disney Lorcana, and Disney’s console collaborations have all had a presence at past D23 events, so game-related announcements are plausible — especially with Kingdom Hearts IV building toward its release window.

Asad Ayaz, Chief Marketing and Brand Officer at The Walt Disney Company, said in the announcement: “Bringing D23 to Singapore reflects the incredible passion of Disney fans across Asia Pacific and our desire to meet them where they are.”

Why Singapore, and Why Now?

D23’s previous Asia editions were all held in Japan (2013, 2015, 2018), reflecting Tokyo Disneyland’s enormous draw for the franchise’s Japanese fanbase. The shift to Singapore for 2027 signals how Disney sees Southeast Asia as its next major growth market — and Singapore’s position as a regional hub for conventions and entertainment events makes it the natural anchor.

For Singapore fans, the practical upside is significant. Travelling to Anaheim or Tokyo for a fan convention involves flights and hotels that make a D23 trip expensive for most regional fans. A Singapore edition removes that barrier — and positions the city as a genuine pop-culture destination on the same tier as the convention cities that have hosted it before.

Tickets go on sale in November 2026 at the official D23 Asia website. Check our events section for any programming updates as they are announced.

News

Kingdom Hearts IV Extended D23 Trailer: Mickey, Donald, and Goofy Are All Playable

Leave a comment

The four-minute extended Kingdom Hearts IV trailer, shown during Disney’s D23 fan event on 15 August, packed in gameplay reveals that the 90-second teaser the night before only hinted at. The headline is unmistakable: King Mickey is playable — properly playable, with his own world and his own mechanics — and Donald and Goofy step into the action too. As we covered when the Coco World was first revealed, KH4 is targeting a late 2027 window across PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC. This extended look makes that wait feel a great deal more worthwhile.

King Mickey Is Finally Playable — and Gets a Paper-World to Call His Own

Mickey’s playable section takes place inside a book within Scala ad Caelum, a flat paper-styled world built around origami shapeshifting. Players can create a paper-thin version of Mickey to slip through wall cracks, scale up to a giant form for heavier combat, or compress to a tiny size for puzzle navigation. Mickey can also fold himself into a paper airplane to cross gaps. The series has placed Mickey in spectacular cutscene moments since the original Kingdom Hearts — having him in your hands with a dedicated traversal system feels like a genuine series milestone.

Kingdom Hearts 4 – Official Coco Extended Gameplay Trailer | D23 2026 — via IGN on YouTube

Donald and Goofy Take On the Land of the Dead

Donald and Goofy get their own playable moments too — seen sledding through the Underworld and fighting Heartless with their signature abilities in the Coco crossover world. They show up in full Día de Muertos skeleton outfits, making their way through the Land of the Dead on a mission parallel to Sora’s. The gameplay shown for the duo is more familiar in style, but having them fully controllable — rather than AI party members — is something the series has circled around for over two decades.

Donald Duck and Goofy in Día de Muertos skeleton outfits in Kingdom Hearts IV's Coco world
Image courtesy of Square Enix

Riku Has Found Sora — and Maleficent Is in the Mix

After a search that stretched across KH3 and Melody of Memory, Riku has broken through into Quadratum — the Tokyo-inspired world where Sora has been living. The extended trailer closes on a shot of the two reuniting alongside Sigurd and Strelitzia. Series director Tetsuya Nomura also hinted at a significant role for Maleficent in the story, saying “I hope you look forward to her,” as relayed in ComicBook.com’s D23 coverage.

Sora in the Tokyo-inspired world of Quadratum in Kingdom Hearts IV
Image courtesy of Square Enix

Singapore players are well-served by the platform lineup — all four versions (PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch 2, and PC) are available locally, and Square Enix has consistently kept the KH series at standard Asia-region pricing. There’s no SGD price or local physical edition confirmed yet; those details will likely come as late 2027 approaches. For now, the extended trailer is the most complete look the team has offered, and it suggests a game that’s been thought through well beyond its opening Coco world reveal. Browse the latest in Game News for more upcoming releases.

News

D23 2026: Incredibles 3, Frozen 3 and Zootopia 3 Confirmed

Leave a comment

Disney’s D23 Ultimate Fan Event landed in Anaheim from 14 to 16 August 2026, and the Entertainment Showcase — a three-hour marathon of announcements — gave fans more to celebrate than any recent D23 in memory. Four major sequels to some of the best-loved animated films of the last two decades were confirmed with dates, story details and first-look concept art: Incredibles 3, Frozen 3, Zootopia 3 and Coco 2. If you are a Singapore fan of any of these franchises, here is the full picture — and check our latest news for the gaming highlights we covered separately.

Incredibles 3 — 16 June 2028, Violet and Dash Step Up

Pixar chief creative officer Pete Docter took the D23 stage to confirm Incredibles 3 for cinemas on 16 June 2028, 10 years after Incredibles 2 and 24 years after the original. Peter Sohn (Elemental, The Good Dinosaur) directs from a script by Brad Bird, who helmed both earlier films and remains a producer.

The story centres on the Parr kids. Violet, Dash and Jack-Jack are growing up in a world where superheroes are now legal — but a corporate Superhero League (SHL) has formed around branding and merchandising, and Violet and Dash want to prove themselves as real supers, sneaking out at night to protect the city without their parents knowing. Bob Parr, meanwhile, grapples with his own relevance in a world that no longer needs him to fight for acceptance.

A new villain was teased with a first-look silhouette at D23 — glowing white eyes, a V-shaped mask — described as possessing “more power than the entire family put together.” Edna Mode is confirmed to return. The full original cast is back: Craig T. Nelson and Holly Hunter as Bob and Helen, Sarah Vowell as Violet, Huck Milner as Dash, and Samuel L. Jackson as Frozone.

Singapore cinemas received both earlier Incredibles films on their global opening windows. Expect Incredibles 3 to screen locally around June 2028. No SGD ticketing is set yet, but based on how Incredibles 2 performed here in 2018, demand will be strong.

Frozen 3 — 24 November 2027, Anna’s Wedding and a New Ice Villain

Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel perform at D23 2026 as Frozen III concept art appears on screen
Image courtesy of The Walt Disney Company

Walt Disney Animation Studios directors Jennifer Lee and Trent Correy brought Kristen Bell (Anna), Idina Menzel (Elsa) and Josh Gad (Olaf) to the D23 stage for a live performance — including a reworked version of the original “Frozen Heart” and a brand-new Olaf love song called “Ooooh, Samantha.”

Frozen 3 opens on 24 November 2027, a holiday-season slot that mirrors the original Frozen‘s November 2013 release. The story picks up at Anna and Kristoff’s wedding, but things quickly turn mysterious when the couple discover Elsa studying a stone that opens a portal to a new snowy dimension. A first-look glimpse of the new villain was shown — a woman with short dark hair and a sweeping cape whose ice powers appear to rival Elsa’s, face kept hidden. The full cast returns: Bell, Menzel, Jonathan Groff and Gad.

Frozen 2 grossed over $1.4 billion globally and was a huge draw at Singapore cinemas in 2019. Expect Frozen 3 to arrive locally in November 2027 on its global window — and with that, the inevitable run of Arendelle-themed merchandise to appear at local retailers well before opening day.

Zootopia 3 — Early Development, With Ke Huy Quan as Gary De’Snake

Walt Disney Animation Studios CCO Jared Bush brought Ginnifer Goodwin and Ke Huy Quan on stage to confirm that Zootopia 3 is officially in development. Goodwin returns as Judy Hopps, while Quan — the Oscar winner from Everything Everywhere All at Once — voices a brand-new character named Gary De’Snake. The D23 audience saw a custom-made sequence, but no release date, trailer or plot synopsis has been shared yet.

As the earliest-stage of the four sequels confirmed at D23, it is likely a few years away at minimum. Singapore fans of the 2016 original — which was a popular family film here — can file this one under “watch this space.”

Coco 2, Ghost Market and What Else Pixar Revealed

Coco 2 logo revealed on stage at D23 2026 with marigold petals
Image courtesy of The Walt Disney Company

Pixar matched WDAS’s energy with its own sequel reveal. Coco 2 is set for November 2029, with original directors Lee Unkrich and Adrian Molina back at the helm. A now-teenage Miguel returns to the Land of the Dead, this time to face Ernesto de la Cruz — back for revenge, with Benjamin Bratt reprising the villain role. The original Coco struck a deep chord with Southeast Asian audiences who share its themes of family, memory and belonging; the sequel has big expectations to meet.

Pixar also unveiled a brand-new original: Ghost Market, arriving Spring 2028. A Chicago teenager stumbles into a hidden supernatural bazaar where the living and the dead do business — concept art pointed to vivid, layered world-building with echoes of Coco’s approach to the afterlife.

Clay and Disney Animation’s New Originals Round Out the Slate

Disney Clay concept art shown at D23 2026 featuring a girl and small clay creature in a colourful fantasy world
Image courtesy of The Walt Disney Company

Walt Disney Animation Studios also revealed Clay (22 November 2028), starring Kieran Culkin as Flip — a lousy, unwilling mentor thrust into an adventure with Mushy, a young ball of clay. Concept art shown at D23 is vivid and colourful with a distinctive handcrafted feel, unlike anything WDAS has put on screen recently.

It was a remarkable D23 for animation fans. For the gaming side of D23 2026, GameTrader has covered the Disney Lorcana digital reveal, Kingdom Hearts IV’s Coco World and Marvel’s Wolverine at D23 in separate posts. Combined, it was one of the strongest D23 showcases in recent memory — and Singapore fans will be keeping their cinema calendars very busy through 2027 and beyond.

News

Disney Lorcana Goes Digital — D23 2026 Reveals Hyperia City, Serialised Cards, and a Villain Season

Leave a comment

Ravensburger used Disney’s D23 2026 fan event in Anaheim — running August 14 to 16 — to drop the biggest Lorcana news slate since the game launched. New sets, a never-before-seen serialised card rarity, a villain-themed competitive season, and confirmation that a digital version is genuinely in development: there is a lot to unpack for Singapore’s growing TCG community.

Hyperia City — Lorcana’s Coco-Inspired 14th Set Comes in October

Set 14, Hyperia City, is named in honour of Walt Disney’s Hyperion Studio — the production home where Snow White and Fantasia were made, from 1926 to 1940 — and its cityscape is built around three distinct districts: City Center, Old Towne Hyperia, and the Multidisciplinary Academy for Genius, Imagination & Creativity.

Miguel Rivera card from Disney Lorcana Hyperia City set
Image courtesy of Ravensburger

The Coco franchise makes its Lorcana debut here: Miguel Rivera and Héctor Rivera both appear as glimmer cards, with Héctor also included in the exclusive D23 collection available at Downtown Disney. Also revealed are Mickey Mouse as Best in Town (a charming hotdog-vendor variant, with an Enchanted foil version), Minnie Mouse as Urban Visionary, and Donald Duck as Taxi Driver.

A new gameplay mechanic, Ink Drops, was teased for the set. Hyperia City prereleases at local game stores begin on 16 October 2026, with full general release on 23 October 2026 — just in time for the school holidays.

Hector Rivera card from Disney Lorcana Hyperia City set
Image courtesy of Ravensburger

Into the Inkdark — The Game’s First Serialised Cards Arrive in 2027

Set 15, Into the Inkdark, is the headline announcement for the year ahead. Villain-themed and centred on Hades, with Captain Hook and the world of Onward also making their Lorcana debut, it introduces two major structural changes to the product line.

Disney Lorcana Hyperia City new card reveal
Image courtesy of Ravensburger

First, Collector Boosters arrive alongside the set — 12-card packs where every single card carries some level of foiling, with rarity determining how intense that treatment is. These packs are the exclusive home of the second big change: a brand-new rarity tier called Illustrious.

Illustrious cards are serialised. Only 23 copies of each design will ever be printed, numbered 1 through 23 — a deliberate nod to the year Walt Disney founded his studio, 1923. The artist’s name appears prominently on every Illustrious card. The first revealed is Maleficent – Biding Her Time, illustrated by Kendall Hale. Pull rates will be low by design; these are once-in-a-collection finds, not casual chase cards.

Into the Inkdark is currently scheduled for Q1 2027. Exact dates are to be confirmed.

A Digital Lorcana Game Is Finally in Development

The most-requested addition to the Lorcana ecosystem since launch is coming. Ravensburger confirmed at D23 that a digital version of Disney Lorcana is in development for mobile and desktop platforms, with no release window announced yet. For Singapore players who have been following the gap left by the shutdown of the fan-made Pixelborn client, this is the official answer. Sign-up links for updates have gone live on disneylorcana.com.

Everything Else From the D23 Lorcana Panel

Beyond the major reveals, Ravensburger announced several supporting products and initiatives. Cosmic Quest (Set 16) is a space-themed chapter targeting Q2 2027. A Beauty and the Beast Curator’s Collection — featuring stained-glass-inspired artwork to mark the film’s 35th anniversary — arrives October 2027. The Disney Lorcana Visual Guide, a companion book covering every set released so far, releases 1 February 2027.

The competitive calendar is rolling into a Season of Villainy to match the villain-heavy set releases, and Lorcana is expanding onto Disney Cruise Line ships and returning to EPCOT’s Festival of the Arts in 2027, with exclusive Figment promo cards at the latter.

Ravensburger also confirmed that 2.8 billion Lorcana cards have been sold globally since the game launched in 2023 — a number that underscores just how firmly the game has planted itself in the worldwide TCG landscape, Singapore included. Local game shops and hobby stores can expect the October pre-release kits for Hyperia City to be popular — check with your regular retailer for event sign-up details.

For the full rundown on every card and product revealed, see the Disney Parks Blog recap and the official Hyperia City product page. More stories at GameTrader News.

Game News

Marvel’s Wolverine D23 — Sentinels Confirmed, Jean Grey and Team X Join the Battle

Leave a comment

One month out and Insomniac Games has shown its hand. The 42-second D23 Showcase Sizzle, released at this weekend’s D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event in Anaheim, finally lays out who Logan and his allies are up against when Marvel’s Wolverine hits PS5 on September 15. The short answer: Sentinels, Sabretooth, Mystique, and a very familiar mutant-hating industrialist narrating about extinction.

Marvel’s Wolverine D23 Showcase Sizzle — Wolverine battles The Hand in a Madripoor courtyard
Image courtesy of Insomniac Games / Marvel
Marvel’s Wolverine – D23 Showcase Sizzle | PS5 Games — via PlayStation on YouTube

The Marvel’s Wolverine D23 Villain Roster in Full

The SDCC story trailer already confirmed Omega Red and Lady Deathstrike, but D23 expands the rogue’s gallery substantially. Sentinels — the towering mutant-hunting robots and one of the most iconic threats in X-Men comics — appear in Wolverine footage for the first time. Sabretooth and Mystique are also confirmed. Bolivar Trask narrates the sizzle with a line that sets the stakes directly: “Let me introduce mutant kind’s extinction.”

Trask, the scientist behind the Sentinel programme, appears to be the human orchestrator with Omega Red as his muscle. Between street-level Hand ninjas, cybernetic Reavers, Sabretooth, Deathstrike, and now Sentinels, the game is stacking an antagonist roster that covers every tier of threat Wolverine faces in the comics.

Jean Grey and Team X Are Fighting Alongside Logan

Jean Grey unleashing telekinetic power in Marvel’s Wolverine D23 footage
Image courtesy of Insomniac Games / Marvel

Jean Grey is more than a cameo. The sizzle frames her and Logan as co-leads protecting mutantkind, with her telekinetic abilities on clear display alongside the story’s core threat. Whether she’s a playable character or a key NPC ally, her role alongside Team X — the covert mutant unit from Logan’s past — signals that the story leans deep into X-Men mythology rather than treating this as a pure solo brawler.

The confirmed story locations span Madripoor, the Canadian wilderness, and Tokyo, which maps onto a genuinely globe-trotting scope for the campaign.

What Singapore PS5 Players Need to Know Before September 15

Wolverine poised in combat stance in a dark outdoor environment
Image courtesy of Insomniac Games / Marvel

The game is a PS5 exclusive on September 15, 2026. Insomniac has confirmed 60 fps with ray tracing as the default on the standard PS5 — no Pro required to hit the intended visual target. It is also Insomniac’s first mature-rated Marvel project; the Spider-Man games were rated T for Teen, and this is clearly positioned differently.

We covered the Battle Yellow PS5 Digital Edition bundle at SGD 849 when Sony confirmed Singapore pricing — pre-orders for the hardware open on 19 August. The standard game edition is priced at USD 69.99 globally; local PlayStation Store pricing in SGD has not been officially confirmed separately. Check the PlayStation Store for the latest. For more upcoming game releases, we’ll have full coverage as September approaches.

Game News

Kingdom Hearts 4 Gets a Late 2027 Window — Coco World Revealed and KH Anime Coming to Disney+

Leave a comment

Square Enix dropped its biggest Kingdom Hearts news in four years at D23 in Anaheim overnight: Kingdom Hearts 4 has a late 2027 release window, its first confirmed Disney world is Pixar’s Coco, and a brand new Kingdom Hearts anime series is heading to Disney+ and Disney Channel. Following this morning’s Kingdom Hearts 25th anniversary deep-dive preview, here is everything revealed at the Disney Entertainment Showcase.

Kingdom Hearts 4 – Official Coco Showcase Trailer | D23 2026 — via IGN on YouTube

Sora Steps Into the Land of the Dead

Sora performing in the Coco world with music notes and light swirling around him in Kingdom Hearts 4
Image courtesy of Square Enix

The Land of the Dead is Kingdom Hearts 4’s first confirmed Disney world, and in a notable first for the franchise, the trailer establishes that this world follows the plot of the 2017 Pixar film rather than telling a separate side story. Papa Hector opens the sequence by explaining the concept of The Final Death to Miguel: those forgotten by the living eventually fade from existence entirely in the afterlife. Miguel is then shown performing for a crowd as Heartless materialise around him, and Sora arrives to deal with them.

Sora appears dressed in Día de los Muertos face paint and Coco-appropriate clothing, blending naturally into the world’s visual language. The Land of the Dead is rendered in vivid, layered detail — the city’s tiered architecture lit up in gold and violet across the cable car sequences — making it one of the most visually striking worlds the series has ever shown.

The Guitar Keyblade and a Fight Alongside Papa Hector

Sora wielding the guitar-shaped sugar skull Keyblade in the Coco world, Kingdom Hearts 4
Image courtesy of Square Enix

Each world in Kingdom Hearts hands Sora a Keyblade that reflects its aesthetic. The Coco world’s version takes the form of a guitar decorated with sugar skull motifs, marigold flowers and warm-toned light — immediately one of the most striking Keyblade designs in the series’ history. The trailer shows Sora fighting alongside Papa Hector, confirming the skeleton musician as a party ally.

The trailer also shows Strelitzia and Sigurd — characters from the mobile game Kingdom Hearts Union χ — appearing in Quadratum alongside Sora. Their presence is a clear signal that the Union χ storyline threads are being woven into the main game, which will matter enormously to fans who stuck with that game through its ending.

Mickey, Donald and Goofy Are Searching — Through Hades

On the other side of the story, King Mickey, Donald Duck and Goofy are shown visiting what appears to be the underworld from Hercules. Dialogue from Hades confirms they have consulted him to track Sora’s location in Quadratum. Donald and Goofy appear as glowing outlines from Sora’s perspective, suggesting the two sides of the story connect across dimensions rather than crossing over directly — a neat way to reintroduce the classic trio without pulling Sora out of Quadratum.

Taken together, the trailer does a great deal in under 90 seconds: new world, Coco-specific Keyblade, returning friends, and enough Union χ fan service to reward players who completed the mobile game’s storyline.

Kingdom Hearts: The Series — On Disney+ Singapore

Kingdom Hearts: The Series key art showing an original character wielding a Keyblade, coming to Disney Channel and Disney+
Image courtesy of Square Enix / Disney

Beyond the game, Disney announced Kingdom Hearts: The Series — an original anime following a new character (not Sora) set within the Kingdom Hearts universe. It will air on Disney Channel and stream on Disney+, meaning Disney+ Singapore subscribers will have access once it launches. No specific date was given, with the announcement card simply reading “Coming Soon.”

Ayo Davis, president of Disney Kids & Family, stated the project is designed to “expand on the universe of Kingdom Hearts while celebrating the characters that have captured the hearts of millions of fans.” Kingdom Hearts series director Tetsuya Nomura is confirmed to be working closely with the creative team at Square Enix on the production.

Late 2027 on Switch 2, PS5, Xbox Series X and PC

Kingdom Hearts 4 logo — Disney and Square Enix
Image courtesy of Square Enix

Kingdom Hearts 4 is confirmed for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store — all platforms simultaneously, with a “late 2027” window. For Switch 2 owners in Singapore, that simultaneous release is the key detail: there is no longer any ambiguity about a Switch version. As we covered earlier today, the franchise recently crossed the one-billion-dollar revenue milestone, giving Square Enix considerable commercial momentum going into this launch.

No specific date or price has been announced. Follow our Game News section for any further Kingdom Hearts updates from D23 or Gamescom later this month.

Game News

Kingdom Hearts Is Now a Billion-Dollar Franchise — Watch the D23 Deep Dive Tonight

Leave a comment

Disney has officially confirmed what longtime fans have suspected for years: Kingdom Hearts is a billion-dollar franchise. The announcement landed this week ahead of a dedicated D23 Deep Dive panel streaming tonight — and Singapore fans can catch it live on Sunday morning.

Kingdom Hearts Hits the Billion-Dollar Mark

Disney Games portfolio including Kingdom Hearts, Marvel Games, Lucasfilm Games
Image courtesy of Square Enix / Disney

Sean Shoptaw, Executive Vice President of Global Games and Digital Entertainment at Disney, revealed in an official blog post that the company’s games division now spans nine franchises that have each cleared $1 billion in retail revenue. Kingdom Hearts is one of them — sitting in the Disney & Pixar Games label alongside Marvel Strike Force and titles from Lucasfilm Games and 20th Century Games.

Shoptaw noted that “games have become such an important part of the broader Disney landscape” and are increasingly “the first place audiences discover Disney’s characters and worlds.” Disney Games as a whole drove an estimated $3.5 billion in annual consumer spending in recent years, surpassing $4 billion in the most recent fiscal year. It’s a remarkable figure for a series that began as an unlikely crossover between Square Enix’s Final Fantasy DNA and Disney’s beloved animated worlds back in 2002.

Kingdom Hearts IV — Sora in combat in Quadratum
Image courtesy of Square Enix / Disney

Watch the D23 Deep Dive Live — Sunday Morning SGT

The timing of the billion-dollar reveal is no accident. Disney is hosting a “Deep Dive Into Kingdom Hearts” panel at its D23 fan event in Anaheim today, August 15, at 4:30 PM PT — that’s 7:30 AM SGT on Sunday, 16 August. The hour-long session will be livestreamed on the official Kingdom Hearts YouTube channel and the Disney YouTube channel, so Singapore fans can set an alarm and tune in from the couch.

DEEP DIVE Into KINGDOM HEARTS | D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event — via KINGDOM HEARTS on YouTube

Note: the panel may not be saved as a VOD after the stream, so watch live if you can. If it is archived, we’ll update this post.

What to Expect From the Panel

Kingdom Hearts IV — Sora battles a large Heartless in an urban street
Image courtesy of Square Enix / Disney

The panel commemorates the series’ 25th anniversary (the actual milestone falls in 2027) and is confirmed to feature a behind-the-scenes look at how the games come together. Panellists include:

  • Nana Gadd — Disney & Pixar Games
  • Tai Yasue — co-director at Square Enix
  • Haley Joel Osment — voice of Sora (and Vanitas)
  • David Gallagher — voice of Riku
  • Renée Johnson — Disney character voices

Disney has not confirmed outright that Kingdom Hearts IV will appear, but with Tai Yasue on stage, the series co-director in tow, and the franchise’s biggest financial milestone as backdrop, anticipation among fans is understandably high. Speculation is running hot on whether a new KH4 trailer — possibly showing English voice acting and the first confirmed Disney worlds — could drop during the stream.

The Switch 2 Collection Is Still on Track for October

Kingdom Hearts IV official logo
Image courtesy of Square Enix / Disney

For Singapore fans who haven’t played the older entries, good news: the Kingdom Hearts Collection [I~III] — covering HD 1.5+2.5 ReMIX, HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue, and Kingdom Hearts III + Re Mind — is still confirmed for Nintendo Switch 2 on 8 October 2026, alongside PS5 and Xbox Series X|S releases. As we covered when the collection was confirmed for Switch 2, the original Switch versions will run via cloud streaming. This is the complete, native way to get the full saga on Nintendo hardware before KH4 arrives.

Set that alarm for Sunday morning. If anything big drops from the D23 stage, we’ll have the breakdown up shortly after. Check in on our game news section for the follow-up.

Game News

Kingdom Hearts 25th Anniversary Panel Set for D23 2026 — SG Watch Guide

Leave a comment

Disney has officially locked in a dedicated Kingdom Hearts panel at D23 2026 — and with Kingdom Hearts IV actively in development for Nintendo Switch 2, this is the event Singapore fans need on their calendar right now.

The session, titled “Deep Dive Into Kingdom Hearts,” is set for Saturday, 15 August at 4:30–5:30 PM PDT at the Backlot Stage of the Anaheim Convention Center. For Singapore fans, that converts to Sunday, 16 August, 7:30–8:30 AM SGT — an early alarm, but one worth setting.

Kingdom Hearts IV Sora close-up with Goofy and a kaiju shadow looming behind
Image courtesy of Square Enix

What Is the “Deep Dive Into Kingdom Hearts” Panel?

D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event runs 14–16 August 2026 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California. Disney’s official description frames the panel as “a journey through light and darkness as we commemorate 25 years of Kingdom Hearts,” promising insights from the series’ creative minds and voice cast, and exploring how the franchise united Disney, Pixar, and Square Enix into one sprawling saga.

No specific new game announcement has been confirmed in the panel listing — but with KH IV footage debuted at the June 2026 Nintendo Direct and Kingdom Hearts IV marked as coming to Switch 2, the franchise is in its most active period in years. A release window, a new trailer, or a Disney worlds reveal would all be reasonable expectations for a dedicated 25th-anniversary showcase.

Kingdom Hearts IV Gameplay Revealed — and It Looks Different

Kingdom Hearts IV gameplay: Sora fights enemies at a neon-lit Shibuya-style urban crosswalk
Image courtesy of Square Enix

At the June 9, 2026 Nintendo Direct, Square Enix unveiled the first real gameplay look at Kingdom Hearts IV. Sora now operates in Quadratum — a grittier, hyper-realistic city that evokes Tokyo’s Shibuya district, complete with rain-slicked intersections, kaiju-scale encounters, and a Command Menu that veterans will recognise immediately. It is a striking stylistic departure from the colourful cartoon worlds of previous entries.

KH IV is confirmed for Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC — but no release date has been announced, which is part of why every new reveal, panel, and event now carries so much weight.

KINGDOM HEARTS IV – Nintendo Direct 6.9.2026 — via Nintendo of America on YouTube

The KH Collection Lands on Switch 2 in October

Kingdom Hearts IV: Sora unleashing a golden Keyblade attack in a rainy urban setting at night
Image courtesy of Square Enix

While the wait for KH IV continues, Square Enix is already bringing the classic trilogy to Switch 2. Kingdom Hearts Collection [I ~ III] arrives on 8 October 2026 as a native Switch 2 release — covering KH1, Chain of Memories, KH2, 358/2 Days, Birth by Sleep, and Dream Drop Distance in one package. Players who previously purchased the cloud version on the original Switch will receive a 50% discount on the upgrade.

That is a significant amount of lore to get through before KH IV arrives, and for Singapore Switch 2 owners, it is all available through the local eShop without region restrictions.

What Singapore Fans Should Watch For

Sora and Goofy in a cutscene from Kingdom Hearts III
Image courtesy of Square Enix

Tetsuya Nomura’s anniversary message earlier this year specifically mentioned the team “working hard for the 25th anniversary” — a signal that D23 is not just a retrospective celebration. Whether the panel delivers a KH IV release window, new world announcements, or something else entirely, it is the biggest scheduled Kingdom Hearts moment of 2026.

D23 panels have historically been streamed online. Monitor the official D23 website and the Kingdom Hearts official site for confirmed streaming details as August approaches. Check our gaming news — we will cover whatever Square Enix reveals on the day.