Michael Eisner ran Walt Disney Company for over two decades — from the mid-1980s to 2005 — and in that time he approved hundreds of deals, films, partnerships, and projects. One of them was Kingdom Hearts. He doesn’t remember it.
That’s not a slight against the franchise. It’s just the quietly hilarious reality that one of gaming’s most beloved RPG series — a title that has sold over 35 million copies, spawned more than a dozen entries, and inspired an obsessively dedicated fandom — was greenlit by a man who, more than two decades later, needed to be reminded what it was.
How the Question Got Asked
The exchange happened at the Paley Center for Media in midtown Manhattan, where Eisner was appearing as an investor in Delphi Interactive, a relatively new video game company that describes itself as the architect behind IO Interactive’s 007: First Light and the developer of FIFA World Cup: Launch Edition on Netflix. Eisner sat on a panel alongside Delphi’s CEO Casper Daugaard, fielding questions about the company’s work and direction.
After the panel wrapped, Game File reporter Stephen Totilo approached Eisner with one of the more inspired questions in recent gaming journalism. He asked the 84-year-old former CEO whether he could recall saying yes to a game called Kingdom Hearts.
Eisner’s initial response was a flat: “No.”
Totilo pressed, reminding Eisner that the game was pitched to him in Tokyo and that it combined Final Fantasy characters with Disney ones. That jogged something. “Oh, I remember now,” Eisner said. But when Totilo followed up by asking why he ultimately approved it — why he said yes to what was, by any measure, an unconventional pitch — Eisner’s answer was equally brief: “I don’t.”
Totilo later noted he probably should have pulled up a picture of Sora wielding a keyblade to help things along. A missed opportunity for photojournalism history.
The Real Story of How Kingdom Hearts Almost Didn’t Happen
The more interesting layer to this story is what Totilo dug up alongside the Eisner anecdote — an account from Shuji Utsumi, who was working as a Disney executive in Japan at the time and was the person responsible for getting Kingdom Hearts in front of Eisner in the first place. Utsumi is now COO of Sega, and his recollection (translated from a Japanese interview with Otocoto) paints a picture of just how precarious the series’ existence actually was.
According to Utsumi, Kingdom Hearts was already being energetically developed by Square — now Square Enix — before it had ever received official authorisation from Disney’s headquarters. Utsumi found this out shortly after joining the company, and his reaction was to be “greatly surprised.” The project was essentially running on goodwill and momentum in Japan, with the assumption on Square’s side that things were further along in terms of approval than they actually were.
When Utsumi sought advice from veteran Disney staff in Japan about how to proceed, he was told to drop it. The prevailing wisdom was that there was no chance a project like this would ever get approved by Disney HQ — the concept was too experimental, too weird, too much of a departure from how Disney typically operated.
Utsumi didn’t listen. He spent months building the groundwork — multiple meetings with his US boss, thorough preparation, careful framing of what the project could be — before the pitch was finally presented to Eisner and then-COO and President Bob Iger during a visit to Japan connected with Tokyo DisneySea and the Japanese division’s strong financial performance. Over 100 Japanese and American managers attended the presentation.
Eisner’s reaction in the room was not what you’d call enthusiastic. He didn’t offer praise. What he gave, according to accounts from those present, was something closer to words of encouragement — a sentiment along the lines of “keep up the good work” or “keep at it and do it right.” Muted. Noncommittal. The kind of thing a CEO says when he’s moved on to the next item.
But here’s the thing: the other executives in the room interpreted it as authorization. That vague encouragement was read as a green light, and the internal obstacles that had been blocking the project — the questions about whether Disney HQ had sanctioned it — were effectively cleared. Kingdom Hearts launched on PlayStation 2 in 2002, and the rest is history that Eisner apparently forgot.
What Kingdom Hearts Has Become Since That Pitch
The series Eisner can’t quite place has had a remarkable run in the two decades since that Tokyo presentation. Over 35 million copies sold across the franchise. More than a dozen games spanning PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo, PC, and mobile platforms. A lore so deep and complicated it has become something of a running joke — and a badge of honour — among the fanbase. Tetsuya Nomura, the series’ creator and character designer, has built an entire interlocking mythology out of what was originally just “Final Fantasy plus Disney characters.”
The series has also had its rough patches. Kingdom Hearts: Missing-Link, a mobile entry that had been in development for years, was cancelled in 2025 after the development team concluded it wouldn’t meet fan expectations. Leaked footage of its opening sequence surfaced online earlier this month, showing what appeared to be keyblade-wielding astronauts battling a giant Heartless in something that looked, according to fans, like Pacific Rim with Keyblades. Which honestly sounds fine.
The next mainline entry, Kingdom Hearts 4, is in development and a deep dive into the series is scheduled for D23 next month. Twenty-four years on from Eisner’s shrug of approval, Square Enix and Disney are still at it.
Delphi Interactive: The Company That Got Eisner Back Into Gaming
The broader reason for Eisner’s New York appearance is worth a brief note. Delphi Interactive is positioning itself as a behind-the-scenes creative force in the games industry — it claims a role in developing 007: First Light with IO Interactive and has built FIFA World Cup: Launch Edition for Netflix Games. Eisner is a major investor, which is what brought him to the Paley Center panel in the first place.
The company is relatively new but has already attached its name to two high-profile projects, and Eisner’s involvement suggests it has the kind of financial backing and industry access to keep showing up in gaming news going forward.
For now though, the Kingdom Hearts story is the one that’s going to follow this event around the internet. It’s a perfect encapsulation of how much of the entertainment industry actually operates — major decisions made quickly, half-remembered, and filtered through layers of interpretation by the people whose job it is to make them happen. Millions of people have spent decades playing a series that exists because one executive in Japan refused to take no for an answer, and another executive in New York doesn’t remember saying yes.
For more on what’s going on in gaming right now, check out our breakdown of Marvel’s Wolverine’s SDCC 2026 reveals and the full story on the Rockstar Game Workers Union pushing for formal recognition ahead of GTA 6’s November launch.
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