Issue with Kingdom Hearts

The issue I have with KH is that, who's it for ?

When KH originally came out the target audience would've of been 10-15 year olds. So kids/ tweens and teens born around 1990-1987. I'm heading more towards the 13-15 year olds, because the game assumes you know who Cloud Strife and Squall Leonhart is.

When KH 2 came out that age group would of been the same, just a little older. Some of the older fans might of dropped off here, but it mostly would of been the exact same target audience.

However it's taken so long for KH3 to come out that the original target audience are now 31- 25 (ish ) years old. Adults with jobs, children, tired, and grumpy. KH3 has taken soooo long to come out that Square has released this and re-released the games with collection sets on the PS3 and PS4 and now the target audience has changed to today's teens who would've been born when the original KH game was released.

Not that you cannot be a 25 + and 30 + and enjoy this game and look forward to the next game, just that it sucks that KH was originally basically for the "90 kids generation " or whatever you want to call it, and now it's clearly for Gen Z kids. Most of the kids who grew up with this game originally are not going to be stuck with long-working jobs, kids of their own, just adult life and maybe would of even "grown out " of the series.

It makes me wish that KH3 came out sooner, and they made a spin-off like series, so the target audience back then could of finished the pie so to speak, and then go off to adult world.
It would of been a nice goodbye to "childhood " as well.

Not all adults have the time to sit down and play Donald Duck not heal you. It sucks. KH isn't a game that you can sit down for a 3 hours on a weekend and complete it, you need plenty of time.

Demographics are just a marketing thing anyway

It’s still mostly for people who started the series way back, and the HD rereleases of all the games so far aren’t just for drawing new people in - it’s for people who have missed any of the games before to catch up with the story. Because the entire KH series is a continuous story (even the “spin-offs”), and the game will expect you to know what it’s talking about. So while the trailers may be focusing on some new Disney stuff (but honestly, the Frozen world looked the newest and even that I wouldn’t say is a typical Gen Z thing, with Toy Story, Monsters Inc still being stuff we cherish from our childhood), I never got the impression this is appealing to the younger crowd exclusively.

Also, we adults with jobs and kids need our entertainment too, and a lot of us do want to keep playing longer, more substantial game and will make time for them at weekends, so I really don’t see it as not marketed towards us. If anything, it’s those “kids these days” that prefer online games to long story-rich single-player experiences. And honestly, I can’t inagine a better series to play with your kid

You have described me (1987!) very well. I played these games half my smurfing life ago! When I played the first two as a teen though, I was only in it for the high res FFVII chars. The Disney was a stupid kiddy thing to me and I was mildly irked that there was so much of it. I don't wanna play a Disney game, how embarassing!

Now I'm cool with it and when I recently replayed them in the new remaster collection I merrily belted out a couple of Disney tunes here and there. The whole experience played to that child at heart that we all still have inside of us and was a nice bit of rediscovery and nostalgia. I think for our generation that's what KH3 will be too.

They were incredibly dumb to lose the momentum that they had going after the surprise megahit they had in KH though. The gaming landscape has drastically changed since then.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Fynn

Also, we adults with jobs and kids need our entertainment too, and a lot of us do want to keep playing longer, more substantial game and will make time for them at weekends, so I really don’t see it as not marketed towards us. If anything, it’s those “kids these days” that prefer online games to long story-rich single-player experiences. And honestly, I can’t inagine a better series to play with your kid

---

True ! Well-said Fynn !

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Psychotic

They were incredibly dumb to lose the momentum that they had going after the surprise megahit they had in KH though. The gaming landscape has drastically changed since then.

---

True, yeah. Though people are going crazy for KH3 at the moment, so maybe it won't hurt for them ?

You know, I take issue with the whole "Donald won't heal" meme. Donald healed me all the time like a real bro. He healed me so much he didn't have enough MP to heal himself and died so I could keep playing and nobody appreciates his sacrifice :cry:

Yeah, it’s all a matter of setting up the right AI and giving him items. People who complain about that just need to sit down and pay attention. Donald is great and I will fight anyone who says otherwise.

People are going crazy for KH3 right now, Disney is pretty much a timeless thing that spans generations of fans.

Square have also played it smart by releasing the digital All-In-One collection which I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of first-timers have picked up to get ready for the main release. They're making sure that KH3 is everywhere, even at things like D23.

Also, Union Cross seems to have been a hugely successful mobile game for SE, that has a very young following.