We have a new rumor about Dragon Quest XII: The Flames of Fate, connected to recent events surrounding Square Enix.
As we reported yesterday, Square Enix decided to cancel several games, and in doing so reported some immediate financial losses. To be clear, while it’s never good news to cancel projects, this may have been a prudent decision on Square Enix’s part.
The Japanese studio has been facing a crisis for a few years now, with this generation’s round of video game releases either performing very poorly, or underperforming based on expectations. If Square Enix had planned future video game releases where it’s easy to see that they’re unlikely to also be successful, they will be better off cancelling those projects now. The decision seems to have been between reporting some losses now, or to report even bigger losses at a later date.
But now we’re learning some new information about the company, from an unlikely, but trustworthy, source. Midori has come up to explain how Square Enix has renamed their divisions. But she also took this opportunity to share new information. She said on Twitter:
“The Dragon Quest development team at Square Enix was Division 3 of Business Unit 2.
But this has probably changed now too.”
The original topic certainly seems insignificant in comparison, but it is worth talking about as well. Square has stopped referring to their game studios as Creative Business Units, and now refer to them as Creative Studios. Midori simply chimed in that Sega made a similar change a few years ago.
But the rumor was certainly unexpected, and lines up with other recent reports. Early last month, they announced that Yuu Miyake, who is head of Creative Business Unit 2/Creative Studio 2, was being taken off of Dragon Quest XII: The Flames of Fate, with the rumor being management dissatisfaction with how the game has seen repeated delays under his hands.
Rumors also had it that Yosuke Saito would be taking over management of Dragon Quest XII: The Flames of Fate. Saito is best known for working on the Nier franchise. But it’s also important to know that Saito is also part of Creative Business Unit 2/Creative Studio 2, and in fact the studio had specific departments for Dragon Quest and Nier, as well as the Bravely Default / Octopath Traveler team.
If the studio who usually makes Dragon Quest games isn’t making Dragon Quest XII: The Flames of Fate, the who is? We may not find out until when Square actually reveals the game, and even then it might be revealed only in the game credits.
We certainly don’t have enough context to assess if this is good or bad news, but hopefully we’ll learn more about Dragon Quest XII: The Flames of Fate from Square Enix themselves in the near future.
