
So, what can you base your RPG on? Aliens? Monsters? Ghosts? The possibilities are endless! However, a series that we’ll be talking about today is Kingdom Hearts, a series with classic RPG elements blended together with *checks notes*… Disney characters. Yes, Disney characters. The first game was released by Square, currently known as Square Enix in 2002 with the base story surrounding Hearts and the enemies of the series, called the Heartless. All of the games in the series have a similar basis and gameplay dynamic, so we’re going to be doing an overview of the series and present you with some Kingdom Hearts statistics to see how the series has been performing on the market. We do stuff like this all the time, so if you want to learn how big the esports industry is, look no further!
Kingdom Hearts key stats
To best represent everything Kingdom Hearts has to offer, we’re going to be containing all of the information we have in this section, going from total games sold across the entire series to revenue, as well as any relevant news postings about the series moving forward. Kingdom Hearts is one of the most popular RPG series ever, so you can be sure that there is a lot of information to go over.
The Kingdom Hearts series has sold over 36 million units across the entire series.
(Source: VG Chartz)
- The original Kingdom Hearts sold 6.3 million units.
- Kingdom Hearts: Chaing of Memories sold 1.6 million units.
- Kingdom Hearts II sold 5.2 million units.
- Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days sold 1.7 million units.
- Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep sold 1.7 million units.
- Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance sold 1.3 million units.
- Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix sold 1.6 million units.
- Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix sold 1.2 million units.
- Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue sold 1.3 million units.
- Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 Remix sold 1.8 million units on PS4.
- Kingdom Hearts III sold 6.7 million units.
Kingdom Hearts is definitely one of the best RPG series to ever come out if we’re looking at it just based on its total sales, and we can also see that there are quite a few games in the series to make up for its ludicrously expanded story, but not all of them are as popular as the mainline games. Despite this, all of the Kingdom Hearts games have sold over 1 million copies, which is an excellent feat.
Kingdom Hearts III and Tomb Raider did not manage to save Square Enix’s profits from declining in the 2019 fiscal year.
(Source: Destructoid, GamesIndustry)
- At the end of the 2019 fiscal year, Square Enix’s revenue increased by 8.2%, but net profits fell by 28.5%.
- Those values expressed in dollars are $2.48 billion and $169 million, respectively.
- The company’s digital entertainment segment accounted for most of its revenue at $1.87 million.
- The operating profit of the same segment fell by 33.1% year-on-year to $266 million.
- The main representing games of Square Enix during that time were Octopath, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Just Cause 4, and Kingdom Hearts 3.
- The fall in profits was attributed to higher release costs for new titles.
Like any other big gaming company, Square Enix has faced some financial problems in the past because it could not keep control of the costs for new games to be released, which took a toll on its profits in 2019. This was all in spite of their bigger games performing quite well, which was an oddity, considering the situation.
Kingdom Hearts III sold over 6.7 million copies within two years of its release.
(Source: Noisy Pixel, Square Enix, Forbes, KH Insider)
- This was announced during the Kingdom Hearts 20th anniversary event.
- The game was the 8th best-selling game of 2019.
- It is also the fastest-selling game in the franchise, racking up more than 5 million units shipped within one month of its release.
There is no doubt that Kingdom Hearts III was the best and most successful of the series, and its sales and revenue can attest to that wonderfully. While there is no official news regarding Kingdom Hearts IV, and there will most likely not be anything for at least a few years, we can take solace in the fact that IV is likely to perform just as well as III, if not better.
The first Kingdom Hearts game was a miracle.
(Source: Retro Dodo)
- The intent to make a new game came about because of some heavy-hitting titles coming out in the 2000s, and Square Enix wanted to compete.
- However, they could not do much as their only property was Final Fantasy at the time.
- Through a random conversation, Shinji Hashimoto was speaking to a Disney representative who suggested adding stylized characters that are already famous.
- They chose to add Mickey Mouse to the game.
- After some discussion, the character of Sora was created to appease both the side that wanted Disney characters and the side that wanted something unique.
- Sora’s weapon was meant to be a chainsaw, but no one liked that idea.
- The original story for Kingdom Hearts was supposed to be very simple, but the directors wanted a Final Fantasy scope, which lead to the story spiraling out of control.
This is one of the weirdest and craziest video game origin stories we have come across, largely because the existence of the entire Kingdom Hearts series sorta started with a random idea that may or may not work, and they just rolled with it. From chainsaw swords instead of keyblades to a random Mickey Mouse appearance in a story rivaling the Illiad, Kingdom Hearts is the definition of blind luck, as, by rights, it shouldn’t have succeeded. Yet, here we are!
Kingdom Hearts I, II, and III had 10.6 million hours watched in their best years on Twitch.
(Source: SullyGnome)
- Kingdom Hearts had 668,978 hours watched in 2022.
- The game had 39,493 broadcasting hours.
- It had 76 viewers on average.
- There were 4 channels streaming the game on average.
- Its peak viewer count was 22,944.
- There were 4,653 broadcasters that streamed the game.
- Kingdom Hearts II had 762,570 hours watched in 2021.
- The game had 45,411 broadcasting hours.
- It had 87 viewers on average.
- There were 5 channels streaming the game on average.
- Its peak viewer count was 13,246.
- There were 3,234 broadcasters that streamed the game.
- Kingdom Hearts III had 9.1 million hours watched in 2019.
- The game had 443,768 broadcasting hours.
- It had 1,046 viewers on average.
- There were 50 channels streaming the game on average.
- Its peak viewer count was 127,041.
- There were 34,095 broadcasters that streamed the game.
For the final line of stats, we have some general numbers concerning Kingdom Hearts I, II, and III on the Twitch scene, as many fans of the series prefer to sit back and enjoy the gameplay as opposed to getting into it themselves. We can see that Kingdom Hearts III is the most popular game in its series on Twitch, for obvious reasons, and it blew the other two titles out of the water.
To sum up
Even though the story and legacy of Kingdom Hearts are massive, there is surprisingly not much information available that can allow us to display everything in the form of statistics, but this should still suffice. The series has seen its ups and downs as well as its fair share of criticism, but that has not stopped it from claiming the hearts of generations of gamers, something it will continue to do for the foreseeable future. We sincerely hope that you have enjoyed what we’ve had to present here and that you’ll return when we update this with brand-new Kingdom Hearts IV content!
Sources
- “Kingdom Hearts (Series)”. VG Chartz, 2022, https://www.vgchartz.com/game/226236/kingdom-hearts/
- “Profits tumble at Square Enix due to escalating launch costs”. GamesIndustry, 2019, https://www.gamesindustry.biz/profits-tumble-at-square-enix-due-to-escalating-launch-costs
- “Kingdom Hearts III couldn’t lead a strong fiscal year for Square Enix”. Destructoid, 2019, https://www.destructoid.com/kingdom-hearts-iii-couldnt-lead-a-strong-fiscal-year-for-square-enix/
- “KINGDOM HEARTS III BECOMES FASTEST SELLING GAME IN FRANCHISE’S HISTORY”. SquareEnix, 2019, https://press.na.square-enix.com/KINGDOM-HEARTS-III-BECOMES-FASTEST-SELLING-GAME-IN-FRANCHISES-HISTORY
- “The 20 Best-Selling Video Games Of 2019”. Forbes, 2020, https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2020/01/17/the-20-best-selling-video-games-of-2019/?sh=3723036e73da
- “Did KINGDOM HEARTS III Under-Perform?”. KH Insider, 2022, https://www.khinsider.com/forums/index.php?threads/did-kingdom-hearts-iii-under-perform.231800/
- “Kingdom Hearts III Sells Over 6.7 Million Units Worldwide (September 2021)”. Noisy Pixel, 2022, https://noisypixel.net/kingdom-hearts-iii-sells-6-7-million-september-2021/
- “Kingdom Hearts”. SullyGnome, 2022, https://sullygnome.com/game/Kingdom_Hearts/2022
- “Kingdom Hearts II”. SullyGnome, 2021, https://sullygnome.com/game/Kingdom_Hearts_II/2021
- “Kingdom Hearts III”. SullyGnome, 2019, https://sullygnome.com/game/Kingdom_Hearts_III/2019
- “The Amazing Story Of How Kingdom Hearts 1 Came Together”. Retro Dodo, 2023, https://retrododo.com/how-kingdom-hearts-1-came-together/