Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix Announced for PS3 for 2014 Release Date [Trailer]

The Kingdom Hearts series has suddenly become active in 2013 after a long period of dormancy on home consoles. At E3 Square Enix announced that Kingdom Hearts 3 is in development on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in addition to Kingdom Heart HD 1.5 Remix, which packages two of the original games in the series with an adaption of one game to an HD movie. Now, Sony has declared on an official blog post that Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix is also in development and will appear sometime in 2014 for the PlayStation 3.

While the first HD Remix collection for Kingdom Hearts included the original Kingdom Hearts with Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts 358/2 (which is not playable, but rather a remastering of cutscenes of the game; essentially making it a three hour plus movie of the game), this collection will feature later games in the series. Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix will be available in North America for the first time ever, along with the PSP game Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep Final Mix. Kingdom Hearts Re: Coded will be similar to 358/2 as the cutscenes will get an HD remake but will not be playable.

Associate Product Manager for Square Enix Mat Kishimoto revealed that he is excited by the impending release of Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix due to the fact that players will finally be able to experience the full version of the classic games in the collection:

"I'm so excited to be able to see all of these games included as a part of this compilation, but personally, the most exciting title may be Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Final Mix. As many may not have been able to experience its awesomeness, it's truly one of the more phenomenal games, and now completely rebuilt in HD - you'll be able to play it on your big-screen TV for the first time."

It was widely expected that a second HD Remix collection for Kingdom Hearts would be launched, as Square Enix stated that the collection's released depended on the success of Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix. It was revealed with the announcement of Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix that Kingdom Hearts has sold 20 million units worldwide with the release of the HD collection, so needless to say Square Enix has found success with the rerelease of the games.