Kingdom Hearts 4 gets a Coco gameplay trailer and a delay denial at D23 2026

Kingdom Hearts 4 commitments and the Coco trailer

Square Enix used D23 2026 to show an extended Coco gameplay trailer for Kingdom Hearts 4, the next installment in the action RPG series, with footage captured during the presentation. Director Tetsuya Nomura addressed players directly, telling them a delay "is not happening" — a pledge made on stage at the Disney showcase rather than in a written press release. The trailer and the comment together frame Kingdom Hearts 4 as the central narrative anchor of the showcase, with Square Enix leaning on its Disney partnership to keep the title visible while development continues.

The strategic effect is to hold pre-order and wishlist momentum through a period when rivals are also surfacing high-profile releases.

South of Midnight leaves Microsoft publishing, lands on Steam self-published

Compulsion Games cut ties with Microsoft and put South of Midnight on Steam under self-publishing, a structural shift that hands the studio full control of pricing, patches and storefront positioning. The move reads as one studio opting out of a first-party deal, not an industry-wide pattern, and it shifts the title into a crowded indie-and-AA Steam lane where visibility is bought through events and community updates rather than platform featuring. Players should expect the same game with different storefront marketing behind it, while Compulsion now owns the customer relationship and the post-launch roadmap.

A Simpsons Hit & Run tease and a Disney Lorcana digital client

Matt Groening used D23 2026 to tease a return for The Simpsons: Hit & Run and confirmed a re-title for the in-development Simpsons movie sequel. Separately, Disney Lorcana, the trading card property, is receiving its own digital client so the TCG can be played without physical cards on hand, opening a new on-ramp for lapsed players and a second venue for organised play. Both stories extend Disney-adjacent gaming IP into adjacent surfaces — nostalgia action and a digital card client — at a moment when physical card costs have pushed players toward app-based play. The combined effect is more Disney IP sitting across console, mobile and PC storefronts at the same time.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 opens its beta with a campaign mission

The Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 open beta adds a campaign mission called Entrenched, with the test scheduled for the end of August and accessible across all platforms including Switch 2 via invite. The campaign-mission inclusion is unusual for a public beta, which traditionally samples multiplayer only, and it gives players a hands-on look at the single-player direction before the full release. The Switch 2 invite path is the practical item for cross-platform players, since it lets Nintendo hardware owners benchmark performance and controls ahead of launch rather than waiting on a port review.

Fortnite's Star Wars: Smuggler's Gambit extends a Disneyland ride

Star Wars: Smuggler's Gambit is a Fortnite experience that ties into Disneyland's Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run ride and expands the attraction into a PvE multiplayer online game. Players can continue helping Hondo Ohnaka after they leave the park, and can also scan a QR code to link Epic Games and MyDisney accounts so progress carries between the theme-park queue and the home setup. The cross-surface linking is the operational detail worth watching: account linkage is the bridge that lets a single-player ride queue become a persistent co-op session across the park and the living room, and it sets a template for future Disney ride tie-ins.

What to watch next

Two follow-ups are worth marking: any written update from Square Enix that confirms or softens Nomura's "not happening" delay pledge, and the launch of the Disney Lorcana digital client once a client download URL is published. The Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 open beta invites also resolve the timing for the campaign-mission hands-on across platforms including Switch 2.