Highlights
- Clive Rosfield's appearance in Kingdom Hearts 4 is unlikely based on the pattern of previous Final Fantasy representation in the series.
- The Kingdom Hearts series tends to prioritize classic Final Fantasy characters and overlook newer titles, making Clive's appearance less likely.
- Further, the development of Kingdom Hearts 4 began before the release of Final Fantasy 16, suggesting that Clive's inclusion wasn't planned. With Square Enix unsure of how popular Clive or his game would be, including him would be a risk.
Clive Rosfield has quickly become a popular Final Fantasy protagonist, with many Square Enix fans hoping to see him make an appearance in the upcoming Kingdom Hearts 4. However, following the trends of actual Final Fantasy representation in Kingdom Hearts might suggest that fans are unfortunately in for some disappointment if they are looking for Sora and Clive to jump into the fight together.
This likelihood of Clive being skipped for Kingdom Hearts 4 comes primarily from the way that every title after Final Fantasy 10 has been treated throughout the crossover series. Namely, it is the way that even the most successful titles have been pushed aside for the sake of the PS One and Nintendo-era classic Final Fantasy characters.
Final Fantasy 16's Release During Kingdom Hearts 4's Development
While it can be difficult to pinpoint when Kingdom Hearts 4 news is expected to drop, let alone a release date for the game, the trailer from 2022 is proof that this title is currently in development. This means that Square Enix was not sure of how popular Final Fantasy 16 would be when the planning stages of Kingdom Hearts 4 started, with the basic outline for the game likely already being finalized. Of course, it is possible for direction to change at any point before release, but with how long development has already taken on Kingdom Hearts titles in the past, this type of needless redirect might not be the best choice for the series.
A key example of this crossover of development leading to characters being left out or their appearances being made minor comes from Destiny Islands in the original Kingdom Hearts. It is in this starting location that Tidus and Wakka from Final Fantasy 10 can be found, having been made children and missing most of their unique designs. This was because Final Fantasy 10 and Kingdom Hearts launched only a year apart, and Square Enix wasn't confident in the popularity of new characters like Tidus and Wakka during development of the crossover.
This is likely very similar to where Kingdom Hearts 4 and Final Fantasy 16 land, with the crossover having been planned before finding out that Clive would quickly become a fan favorite protagonist. While Clive has a lot to teach Sora were he to appear as an older mentor figure in the next game, he likely hadn't been planned for leading up through Kingdom Hearts 4 development. That is also ignoring the reverence the Kingdom Hearts series only seems to have for classic titles, and the distance it makes between the games from more than a decade and a half ago.
No Country for New Final Fantasy
To call Final Fantasy 12 "new" after 17 years might seem strange, but that is where the cutoff is for the latest inclusion of "recent" titles from the series into Kingdom Hearts. The last game to manage a reference was Final Fantasy 10-2, with Yuna, Rikku, and Paine appearing as unexplained pixies/treasure hunters in Kingdom Hearts 2. Since then, the majority of the referential characters have mostly come from the PS One era, or taken the form of Final Fantasy mascots like Moogles.
Oddly enough, The World Ends With You has managed to make an appearance in Kingdom Hearts since release, but no other Final Fantasy has been given the same treatment. This is regardless of the popularity of games like Final Fantasy 13 in Japan, which was a big enough hit domestically for protagonist Lightning to have a crossover with Louis Vuitton. So, while Clive makes sense to join the Kingdom Hearts roster of guest characters, that just doesn't seem to be the direction that the series is looking to go moving forward.
Kingdom Hearts 4 is currently in development by Square Enix.