Kingdom Hearts almost led to Disney making its own version of Super Smash Bros, former dev says
Kingdom Hearts’ breakthrough success with crossovers nearly inspired Disney to develop its own fighting game styled after Super Smash Bros.
Ken Christiansen, a former Disney Interactive concept artist who contributed to the original Kingdom Hearts, recently confirmed in an interview with Time Extension that the game’s proven appeal to audiences motivated Disney’s exploration of new crossover projects. Kingdom Hearts’ challenge in getting Disney to initially approve character crossovers later gave way to confidence in the concept, opening doors to internal experimentation.
In 2013, Christiansen published concept art to his portfolio featuring various Disney characters in combat scenarios, providing evidence of the project’s development. The initiative reportedly involved collaboration with Activision and was designed to capitalize on the demonstrated audience appetite for crossover gameplay.
Despite the promising concept art and internal work at Disney Interactive, the fighting game never progressed beyond development. The revelation illustrates how successful franchises can inspire adjacent projects within major publishers, while also highlighting the gap between internal prototyping and full production—even well-supported concepts can remain unreleased.