Square Enix has been rather busy lately. After releasing Dragon Quest X and Dragon Quest Heroes, the company went on to announce re-releases for Dragon Quest VII and VIII. Now, we have a very tentative release date for the next main series game, Dragon Quest XI, set for May 2017. According to SE, this is a “no-later-than” date, implying it may release earlier.
Unfortunately for DQ fans in Europe and North America, SE still refuses to bring DQXI west, stating they may change their mind if sales of other games are high enough. The company gave no mention of a number or even a range, and seems perfectly content to completely ignore any attempt at selling the games that have already been localized. In other words, they demand something for nothing, especially since the latest western release, Dragon Quest Heroes, isn’t even a mainstream DQ title.
In Japan, Dragon Quest is one of, if not the most popular JRPG series. Given that, Square Enix can easily enjoy the games’ success in the east without even thinking about western ports. Money speaks far louder than any amount of words, so if fans want DQ to come overseas, the only hope is to support the games financially and hope that SE changes its mind. And they must do so on good faith, without any real promises or effort from the developers’ end.