Dragon Quest VI release in doubt

By Fred Dutton Published 10 November, 2010

UPDATED: Square insists "no cancellation".

UPDATE: Square Enix has offered a clarification on its European Twitter feed. A new post reads, "About DQVI, there are [sic] just no news. No confirmation, no cancellation. Please be patient and bear with us!"

ORIGINAL STORY: Maxed-out Dragon Quest IX and looking for another serving of handheld RPG questing? Don't hold your breath – Square Enix has seemingly ditched plans for a European release of its Dragon Quest VI remake.

Responding to a request for news on the title on its Twitter feed, a spokesperson for Square Enix Europe wrote, "Not on the cards right now – sorry!"

When it was first announced in 2008, Square promised the game would be coming to the the US and Europe.

The remake of the sixth game in the series – the only one never to see a Western release – came out in Japan in January this year.

It's a strange decision – the excellent Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies, released earlier this year, has sold very respectably outside of Japan.

We've put in a request with Square Enix's US branch to see if it sees things differently.

Picture of Fred.

About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (15) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Cid #1 2 years ago

    For fuck sake, SE.

  • ShadowMountain #2 2 years ago

    For fuck's sake, videogame industry in general.
    Still waiting on an EU Trauma Team release and western releases of Tales of games

  • redcrayon #3 2 years ago

    So we had a story a few days ago about how Nintendo plan to fill the transition period from DS to 3DS with games previously only released in Japan, but could be expected to have a greater global audience, such as Fire Emblem.

    What were the sales of DQVI in Japan again?

  • Retroid #4 2 years ago

    @Cid

    Couldn't have put it better myself.

  • Slamhound #5 2 years ago

    I'm guessing that the Jedward advert managed to single-handedly sink the entire franchise's credibility.

    Bravo.

  • Nanakai #6 2 years ago

    I really think there was no need to jump the gun here. I follow their Twitter myself, and saw that news. Just because they say it's "not on the cards right now" doesn't mean we'll never see a release. It's not even been out in Japan a full year yet, and you know how long games take to make their way here. Be patient Square Enix fans, you should know better =/

  • Nanakai #7 2 years ago

    I go negative for posting that? How sad. You're lucky they're a company who actually reply to fans on Twitter (like they did me). They'll stop posting altogether if you carry on that way, it's not like they're obliged to share anything with us.

  • retr0gamer #8 2 years ago

    Square Enix are total c*nts but as long as it gets a US release at least there'll be a way to play it.

  • brod #9 2 years ago

    DS games are region free.

    estarland.com

  • waynenot #10 2 years ago

    @zhengkk - Put me down for a bikini and sandal, please.

    I'll sort you out later, cheers.

  • Toothball #11 2 years ago

    @brod

    I'm sure many people will be importing it anyway. I know plenty of people who import DS games that are released in Europe anyway, just to get them faster. The grief is that they seem to be writing off the entire European market as some publishers seem to like doing. Sure there may be cost, localisation and licensing issues, but when they come out and say "We're just not going to do it" and nothing else we're left with little option but to complain about it. It's not so bad when you can import, but quite often that's not an option with some other games.

  • Meho #12 2 years ago

    Yeah... I'll import it to if need be. Still, if a publisher as large as SE thinks that Europe is a market not worth bothering with for an IP as large as DQ then... that's really depressing.

  • Cid #13 2 years ago

    There's doubt as to whether it'll be released in the west full-stop. This isn't just about Europe.

  • mcantrell #14 2 years ago

    It's worse than that. Apparently the translation is done or very near done, but the game isn't on the US release list SE put out recently, either -- this is what prompted the twitter question, Fates on the Woodus.net Dragon Quest forums asked in response to the lack of it being on the US release list (he would have asked SE US on Twitter, but they're basically nonresponsive).

    Which means that importing it in English isn't an option for you EU chaps.

    They also registered the trademark and domain name in the US, and have a preorder up on Amazon.com. So they at least HAD plans on releasing it in the west at some time.

    My question is -- just how bad did FF13 / 14 do anyway? I know both of them were unmitigated disasters, but is SE in full on damage control or something? If the game's already translated, and DQ9 is a hit, and the trademark and domain name (realmsofrevelations.net) were both re-registered and extended... why not release it? It should sell just fine, especially now that DQ9 has paved the way.

    No word on Dragon Quest Monsters Joker 2, either, btw -- but they recently announced a "Professional" remake, 6 months after it was released in Japan. So either they're working on a US release (and DQMJ2 Professional is the new International edition) or they found something REALLY buggy that's ruining the multiplayer in Japan.

    The DQMJ2 ads even SHOW US / EU players and US / EU flags are an option in game, for christs' sake. It was supposed to be a sure bet for an English release.

    It's like watching "Benny Hill: The Game Company." I keep expecting a girl in a Moogle bikini to come rushing out a door any minute, being chased by keystone cops.

  • Nanakai #15 2 years ago

    http://twitter.com/#!/SQUARE_ENIX_EU/sta...