Dragon Quest 11, the latest single-player release in the hugely popular JRPG franchise, is reportedly coming Westward according to a Dutch PR outlet. Gamer.nl is reporting that it has been in contact with a Netherlands-based PR company which has the contract forDragon Quest 11’s Dutch release. Square Enix, the developer and publisher ofDragon Quest 11, has yet to otherwise announce the RPG’s localization for western audiences.
Fans have anxiously been awaiting localization news regardingDragon Quest 11, which launches July 29 in Japan for the Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation 4. Worry had begun to set in, sinceSquare Enixhas seemingly decided that the last mainDragon Questtitle, an MMO, wouldn’t fit with Western audiences and has kept it Japan-exclusive. Any localization news is good news, and confirmation from a PR company is much more weighty than a typical rumor.
Western audiences seem to be hungry for more JRPGs after the impressive success of bothPersona 5andFinal Fantasy 15. EvenFinal Fantasy 14’s latest expansion,Stormblood, has been pulling in larger numbers. For whatever reason, however, Square Enix has always felt likeDragon Questdidn’t deserve the same support or localization effort that other major JRPG franchises did in the West. Despite that,Dragon Questretains a large following of fans outside of Japan who would love bothDragon Quest 10and11as soon as possible.
The fact remains that not a singleDragon Questgame in the main series has been released in the West within a year of its Japanese launch. Square Enix has more faith in its spin-off titles likeDragon Quest Builders,Dragon Quest Heroes, and even theDragon Quest Monsters: JokerRPG. Suffice to say, whileDragon Quest 11almost certainly won’t launch in the west anywhere near its Japanese launch date, if it can manage to come west prior to August 2018 it’s a victory.
So, while today’s semi-official confirmation ofDragon Quest 11’s localization is great news, it’s perhaps best to control expectations. ADragon Quest 9localization wasn’t confirmed until months after it launched in Japan. And there’s always the chance that this news is simply incorrect and no localization news is forthcoming. The worst case scenario would be Square Enix deciding not to releaseDragon Quest 11in the West at all, following the path ofDragon Quest 10. Perhaps that’s managing expectations a bit too much.
Dragon Quest 11is coming to PlayStation 4 and the Nintendo 3DS on July 29 in Japan, with plans to bring the JRPG to the Nintendo Switch in the future.
