New Dragon Quest Remakes Coming

May 24th, 2007, 08:18 Posted By: kcajblue

via IGN,

Square Enix has been upping the remake count of late, with, at last count, two billion Final Fantasy remakes appearing on various platforms. So, you might be wondering, if they're willing to remake all the older Final Fantasy games, why aren't they doing the same for the Dragon Quest series?

According to the online version of Japan's Mainichi Shimbun, CEO Yoichi Wada managed to answer that very question (even though it wasn't asked!) at a Square Enix financial briefing in Tokyo today. Asked about release plans for Dragon Quest IX during the Q&A session that followed the briefing, Wada said, "This summer, we'll release Battle Road in arcades and Sword for the Wii. Following that, we're thinking of a release for 9 once we've released remake versions and so forth."

He didn't get into specifics on what entries in the series the company is looking to remake, nor did he refer to a specific system. The last DQ remake, DQV, sold over a million copies on the PS2.

And as for that mysterious "so-forth," it's possible that Wada was referring to off-shoots. Itadaki Street DS could fall into that category, as it features Dragon Quest characters.

Despite strong potential for a remake to turn into a blockbuster, it's doubtful that anything will be able to beat the noise generated by DQIX itself. During the Q&A, someone asked Wada about the planned price for DQIX, noting that some have suggested that the game could end up selling three times as many copies as DQVIII. In response, Wada would not comment on sales targets, nor would he offer a specific price point.

We'll point out that selling three times that of DQVIII would make DQIX Japan's best selling videogame ever with sales of over 11 million units. The DS is certainly popular, but perhaps someone has been spending too much time with the EA wine-tasting game.

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