Square Enix thinking about DQX Wii U

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 22 June, 2011

Technical investigations underway.

Square Enix is having a serious think about launching Dragon Quest X on Wii U as well as Wii.

Nintendo's E3 Wii U announcement for many sounded the death knell for the Wii, and it seems it may have also done so for Square Enix.

During a shareholder's meeting, reported by Andriasang, Square Enix boss Yoichi Wada said the Japanese company must consider making Dragon Quest X compatible with both the Wii and the Wii U.

Technical investigations are underway to figure out how to support Wii U, Wada said.

In March this year Square Enix said development on the role-playing game was nearly complete and a reveal was immenent.

Series linchpin Yuji Horii hinted that fans of Dragon Quest VIII, which released on PlayStation 2 in 2004, should be happy with the direction the game is taking.

"I feel that some users will want to play Dragon Quest on the big screen, which is why we are working toward releasing it on Wii. Of course, in the future we might develop on handhelds again, so it's really a case-by-case basis. It all depends on what the customer wants at that time.

"Something else we hear is that players want a new Dragon Quest that follows the same system of Dragon Quest VIII, so that's something else we're taking into consideration while in development for a Dragon Quest on Wii."

The last game in Square Enix's phenomenally successful RPG series, Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies, hit the DS last year.

Eurogamer's Dragon Quest IX review turned up a 9/10.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (16) Latest comment 11 months ago

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

  • riceNpea #1 11 months ago

    that will please a handful of people mad enough to spend console prices for that controller

  • Smoped #2 11 months ago

    Well, you know, they do get a console with that controller for that console price.

  • abigsmurf #3 11 months ago

    Dragon Quest X could end up being the lowest selling DQ title in a long time.

    They ultimately made a mistake in picking the Wii for it and they compounded that mistake by taking far too long making it. Wii console sales in Japan are incredibly low and Wii software barely makes a dent in the top 40.

  • Cid #4 11 months ago

    What do current hardware sales matter? The Wii was chosen because it's already in the homes of millions.

    I agree that they've waited too long, but it will make no difference whatsoever to Japanese sales.

  • abigsmurf #5 11 months ago

    Cid: it matters hugely.

    People don't buy games for consoles they've lost interest in. If your point was true, there would be far more games charting for the Wii in Japan.

    Take a look at Monster Hunter Tri for the Wii, it sold just over 1 million copies. Given the last Monster Hunt for the PSP sold 4million, that's a 75% drop in sales. That was when the Wii was far more active and popular.

  • Cid #6 11 months ago

    That's because the Japanese prefer portable Monster Hunter. Tri sold just fine for a console instalment.

    You also cannot compare the sort of software currently struggling in Japan to a juggernaut like Dragon Quest. X will go straight to the top of the charts even it launches post-Wii U.

  • landlock #7 11 months ago

    Indeed only a crazy person bets against a main series Dragon Quest in Japan.

  • Golgo #8 11 months ago

    @abigsmurf: DQX will be massive in Japan. It's not like other games. Very sensible decision by Square-Enix to release it on Wii given install base.

  • andywilkie35 #9 11 months ago

    Wish they'd release it on PS3 or Xbox. Would love a proper next gen DQ game, rather than the step backwards DQIX was.

  • Makeem95 #10 11 months ago

    FFS, they spend all that time & money to bring that POS FF13 to the Xbox, but can't bring Dragon Quest to Sony machines? I will instantly buy the next DQ that's available either on the PSP or PS3.

  • abigsmurf #11 11 months ago

    Golgo: You ignored my point.

    Monster Hunter is a huge franchise in Japan, the latest Monster Hunter came pretty close to the sales of DQIX. Despite that it flopped big time on the Wii. That was a title released when the Wii was popular, not when it's in a steep decline like it is now.

    Having a huge installed userbase doesn't mean a great deal when most user's consoles are gathering dust or in a cupboard somewhere.

    As I said, if having a huge installed user base translated into sales, Wii games wouldn't perform so badly in the Japanese charts.

  • Golgo #12 11 months ago

    ^ True re. Monster Hunter Tri. But then again that's primarily a social game that was already massively well established on PSP and which, when ported to Wii, found itself with a typically clunky (by Nintendo's woeful standards) multiplayer mode. Not sure if that'll be such an issue with DQ10.

    Anyway, huge install base counts for nothing if the games are self-evidently shit. DQ10 won't be.

  • grussbarbar #13 11 months ago

    @abigsmurf
    don't forget Cid's point. ;-) Monster Hunter works really well in Japan on portable systems, where you can easily gather around a hunting party everywhere for a quick game, since a lot of people there lug around a handheld gaming machine. As such, it's a great game for lunch breaks and such.
    It's not really comparable to a console version.

    Anyway, since Wii U is backwards compatible with Wii, it should still be no problem for Square Enix if they released DQX as a Wii only title. But if they want to take the time to update it for Wii U, with WiiPad map and inventory management, I'm all for it. Oh, and something tells me Nintendo would love to have DQX as a launch title too. =P
    Edited by grussbarbar at 22/06/11 @ 12:07

  • Mr.Spo #14 11 months ago

    Monster Hunter Tri is the highest selling home console version of that franchise--it did far better than the PS2 versions of the game, and the PS2 was even more popular than Wii. Monster Hunter Tri was also the most successful MH game in the West, and that includes sales of the PSP versions. The conclusion drawn from Monster Hunter Tri's sales shouldn't be that big games will fail on the Wii, it's simply that the vast majority of the Monster Hunter fanbase are on PSP in Japan (which has become a more portable orientated market), and have no desire to buy a home console for one game, especially when it lacks the ease of use and connectivity features that have made Monster Hunter so big in Japan.

    Given the installed base of Wii, and the cheap price of Wii, as well as Dragon Quest's historic success on home consoles, it should sell several million copies on Wii just in Japan. Monster Hunter Tri wasn't a flop by any means, and simply can't be compared to the low-key software Japan has witnessed in recent months. The only Wii titles of note have been new franchises like Pandora's Tower and Last Story. The last massive title to be released in Japan (that can be compared with something like Dragon Quest) was Pokemon Black/White, which came out on the 'dying' DS (a system that peaked several years ago in Japan and has been outsold regularly by PSP), and that still sold in the multiple millions--4 or 5 million copies. Dragon Quest X can sell at least a couple of million just on Wii in Japan.

  • Jon1292 #15 11 months ago

    Is it just me or does seth green try to vaguely sound like Chris in that advert, from the fear of noone knowing he is.

  • Mr_Brown #16 11 months ago

    It make sense for them to be considering this, it would be great news for Nintendo if DQX could be available for WiiU launch, it just depends on how far along it is. I would buy it on any system and would definatly get a WiiU for it.