They probably did this because it's easier to build for both PS4 and XboxONE.

I' m not sure which engine is intrinsically better for that, but judging from what they say Unreal 4' s biggest appeal is its vastly superior tech support. Makes sense considering its huge feedback pool, Luminous hasn' t even churned out a single game yet.

Luminous is custom and Unreal is 3rd party and open to the public. Most indie people will probably start using. Not very original but It's a simple thing to work with. The new team was probably inexperience since they never even developed a PS3 game and only like 1 or 2 crap games for PS2. (Maybe not crap but not as popular) Which is also probably why the games were on handhelds. I'm really thinking they are working fast and not taking their time.

I think with Square's financial situation, if that's still a thing, and the pressure to release Kingdom Hearts III as soon as possible, you can't really blame them for taking shortcuts to speed things up. Since Luminous hasn't been used, in my eyes, it's like that team would be expected to develop an engine and an overly anticipated game at the same time. I feel like they should have picked one or the other, not doing both at the same time, and they happened to pick Kingdom Hearts III. It really just looks like they're prioritizing the contents of the game rather than Luminous; even so, this interview just shows they still took the time to make the engine fit their aesthetic style. I've got faith in them.

I'm not sure that it is being rushed exactly but I do think they have taken a much harsher stance about FFXV in the last year than a lot of people believe. I mean, it essentially looks like Nomura was forced off of the project for starters so there's a pressure on him to not let KH3 become another Versus. Furthermore, Square's financial situation really just epitomizes to me their poor development practices. It's appealing to have an in-house engine for a lot of reasons but you can accomplish a lot with Unreal 4. The continuous problems with and work on Luminous delayed FFXV to the point where it isn't even running completely on Luminous.

I don't know much about game engines but I imagine that Luminous games would be difficult to port to XBONE. If Unreal makes that and other work easier for the team then I think that's great. The only valid concern people raised when the switch was announced was the look of the game, which they've said they have successfully ported over.

Square for a long time now has had to look at what the West is doing right an incorporate that into their business and their games. FFXIV 2.0's success was based around that, and if KH3 is going a similar route, I'm pleased.

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