{"id":30274,"date":"2024-04-30T13:54:23","date_gmt":"2024-04-30T04:54:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=30274"},"modified":"2024-04-30T16:09:49","modified_gmt":"2024-04-30T07:09:49","slug":"how-kingdom-hearts-got-approved-while-halfway-through-development-former-disney-rep-comments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/how-kingdom-hearts-got-approved-while-halfway-through-development-former-disney-rep-comments\/","title":{"rendered":"How Kingdom Hearts got approved while halfway through development \u2013 former Disney rep comments\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sega President and COO Shuji Utsumi recently featured on Yoshiki Okamoto\u2019s official YouTube channel<\/a>, where he talked about his career and the decisive behind-the-scenes work he did to get SquareSoft\u2019s (now Square Enix\u2019s) Kingdom Hearts<\/strong> greenlit by Disney. The crossover franchise now counts 13 main entries and is considered a critical and commercial success. However, it was initially in a precarious state, with development advancing without the project being officially approved. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shuji Utsumi joined Disney Interactive in 2000, serving as Vice President and Managing Director for the Asia Pacific region for about 4 years. Reminiscing about his days at Disney, Utsumi talks about the struggle he went through to get Kingdom Hearts approved, given how strict Disney were with the use of their properties. \u201cThe politics of getting approval (for Kingdom Hearts) was really challenging. I had to do a lot of behind-the-scenes negotiating, while figuring out who to ally with and whom to avoid.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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