Fans of the Square/Disney crossover franchise, Kingdom Hearts, have been looking forward to the eventual release of Kingdom Hearts 3 for a long time. They have been eating up every announcement and leak about the game. However, they might be a little disappointed by the overall theme and message of this much anticipated title.
In accordance to the agreement Square made with Disney, Square has an obligation to include as a primary theme of the latest game a message that is in favor of copyright term extensions and is also anti-piracy. With the looming expiration of the copyright on Steamboat Willie, Disney has already begun its lobbying campaign to extend copyright term length further. As a part of this effort, Disney is looking to wage a culture war in the hopes of getting the public to support its position.
The agreement Square made with Disney requires that they take part in this culture war. As such, extended portions of Kingdom Hearts 3 will take place in the Timeless River world, first featured in Kingdom Hearts 2, in which a classic Mickey will extol the player on the virtues of protecting the copyright on this classic film. Other worlds will include similar messages, with new world Pirates of the Caribbean taking on an overt anti-content piracy message.
Both Square and Disney feel confident that players will enjoy the game and that they will learn from playing this game that copyright should be protected at all costs.
