Will Dragon Quest X Ever Be Localized?

Anthony explores the possibility of Dragon Quest X being brought overseas.

By Anthony Vigna. Posted 06/02/2014 11:00 2 Comments     ShareThis

I love Dragon Quest. As a big JRPG enthusiast, I have to appreciate it as a series because it basically created the JRPG genre as we know it. While some of the earlier games in the series may be seen as primitive by today’s standards, I think that the series still holds up rather well. In fact, Dragon Quest V and Dragon Quest VIII remain as two of my favorite JRPGs to date. They both set the bar in their own unique way, as the former excels in telling a great fantasy story and the latter contains solid gameplay mechanics.

Naturally, when I heard about Dragon Quest X‘s announcement, I was really excited. Sure, it’s a lot different than other titles in the series because it’s an MMO instead of a single player game, but it still looked fantastic! I don’t typically play MMOs, but Dragon Quest would definitely be a franchise that could get me into these type of games. Plus, with the lack of Wii U launch titles on the horizon at the time, I desperately wanted to see it localized.

Sadly, Square Enix never brought Dragon Quest X to the west, making it impossible for me to play it. The newest 3DS remake, Dragon Quest VII, also remains in localization limbo along with it.

I know JRPGs don’t pull in major sales in the west, but this is still really disappointing. The last major Dragon Quest game, Sentinels of the Starry Skies, proved that there is a market for these kind of games when it sold over a million copies overseas. Interest in these games is only growing with time, so Square Enix should capitalize on the western market.

Even though localization seems like a no-brainer to me, I understand why Square Enix might be a little hesitant. Dragon Quest X is one of the lowest selling titles in the series, only reaching one million units in Japan. Sure, it may sound ridiculous to call a game that sells a million units a low selling game, but a single Dragon Quest game is capable of selling over 4 million copies in Japan alone. If the game is struggling to do well in Japan, then I can see why Square Enix might not want to release it in markets with a smaller audiences.

Yet at the same time, I find it hard to believe that Dragon Quest X wouldn’t do well overseas. Sure, the game isn’t selling as well as it should, but we can’t analyze MMOs in the same way that we look at other games. Selling units is important, but selling subscriptions is even more vital to the success of MMO. A perfect example of this is Final Fantasy XI, another single player JRPG series that turned into an MMO. Much like Dragon Quest X, a lot of people didn’t buy it because of the MMO focus, but it eventually went on to become the most profitable game in the series because of its paid subscription model.

Thankfully, it seems that some people at Square Enix are starting to realize Dragon Quest X‘s potential in the western market. In a recent interview with Famitsu, producers Yu Miyake and Yosuke Saito were asked if they were thinking about localizing the game in other countries. Here’s what they had to say:

Miyake: Of course we are. However, with the overseas market, in regards to a ‘Dragon Quest-ish’ management, standards and methods of play vary from country to country, so I don’t think we’ll be able to use the single game worldwide method like with Final Fantasy XI.

Saitou: This is just my take on it, but it appears that different countries play games at different speeds, and the community management is also diverse. It’s more than just if players would be able to enjoy universal seasonal events, so I believe we should manage countries and areas separately. That’s why I think we should have separate servers for each country.

While this is far from an official confirmation, it gives me hope that the game will be released in the west. Localizing the game, running the servers, and creating an alternate version that caters to a different style of play are all costly endeavors, but I think that it still has the potential to become a success. Once again, the widely successful Final Fantasy XI is proof that it could work.

Even though it seems like Dragon Quest is dead here in the west, I truly think that the series has a chance to live on overseas. If Square Enix is willing to give a new JRPG like Bravely Default a shot outside of Japan, then I honestly see no reason for it to hold back Dragon Quest. Would you like see Dragon Quest X get localized? Let us know in the comments!

2 Responses to “Will Dragon Quest X Ever Be Localized?”

  • 156 points
    excaliburguy says...

    It’s the same story for Fire Emblem, pre Awakening at least. FE12 was kept in Japan because… why? And don’t get me started on the SNES FE games, especially FE4.

    • 180 points
      Anthony Vigna says...

      Man, I know exactly what you’re talking about. FE4 is a huge contender for my favorite game in the series, but it unfortunately remains as a Japan exclusive along with most of the early FE games.

      If Marth and Roy were never in Melee, we may have never gotten a single FE game!

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