Dragon Quest's Creator Wishes He Could Tell His Past Self About Dragon Quest 11's Success

Dragon Quest 11's sales numbers aren't draggin'.

News by Nadia Oxford, Staff Writer

Updated on 19 December 2019

The Dragon Quest name isn't as familiar in the West as Final Fantasy, but its days as nigh invisible franchise is seemingly long behind it. Dragon Quest 11: Echoes of an Elusive Age recently passed the 5.5 million shipped mark, and a cute quote about time travel from series creator Yuji Horii indicates sales in the West helped bolster those numbers.

"I strongly believe that this figure has only been achieved thanks to our fans who have always loved the DRAGON QUEST series and also the new players who discovered DRAGON QUEST or JRPGs through this title," Horii states in a press release distributed earlier today by Square Enix. "If I could ever go back in time to meet myself when I was still making the very first DRAGON QUEST, I would love to tell him, 'In 30 years' time, DRAGON QUEST XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age has been released and loved by international fans beyond seas and languages.'"

Dragon Quest 11's impressive numbers include the vanilla version of the game released on PlayStation 4 and Steam, as well as the Definitive Edition released this year on the Nintendo Switch. The Japan-exclusive 3DS version of the game is factored in, too.

Nintendo and Square Enix have worked hard to make Westerners think warm thoughts about the Dragon Quest series. Their earliest attempts fell flat, but persistence seems to be paying off. The excellent Switch port of Dragon Quest 11 generated some positive buzz, and putting the series' Hero in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate likewise brought some curious Westerners into the fray.

Dragon Quest 9 for the Nintendo DS likewise smashed the 5 million mark in 2011, and 1.1 million of that total came from the West. Hopefully some Western sales data for Dragon Quest 11 is coming soon.

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Nadia Oxford

Staff Writer

Nadia has been writing about games for so long, only the wind and the rain (or the digital facsimiles thereof) remember her true name. She's written for Nerve, About.com, Gamepro, IGN, 1UP, PlayStation Official Magazine, and other sites and magazines that sling words about video games. She co-hosts the Axe of the Blood God podcast, where she mostly screams about Dragon Quest.

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