Square Enix has confirmed with the Asahi Shimbun that Dragon Quest XI will release no later than May 2017.
As announced earlier, Dragon Quest XI will get dramatically different versions on the PlayStation 4 and the 3DS. Square Enix also hopes to bring the game to Nintendo’s NX.
Asahi also rehashed recent history with the previous games, pointing out Dragon Quest X, an online game, sold 1.52 million copies, a little belowDragon Quest IX’s 4.15 million copies.
Square Enix hoped to make Dragon Quest X much like what Final Fantasy 14 eventually became: an online RPG core fans would return to again and again. Whereas Final Fantasy 14 eventually hit it stride, Dragon Quest X was fated to falter.
Dragon Quest’s developers seem to attribute this to the business model, as they tried to sell Dragon Quest X as a monthly subscription game. In contrast, Final Fantasy 14 resisted the push for subscriptions, as well as free to play, offering a free trial instead.
Now, Dragon Quest XI will be offline, and as Yuji Horii himself puts it;
We want people to play it. We are making the most of the characteristics of each gaming machine.
