The long-anticipated Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age is finally coming to the West later this year as Square Enix revealed today, and while the game will arrive for PS4 and PC owners this fall, those waiting for the game’s arrival on Nintendo systems will be greeted with some good and bad news.
Square Enix stated to IGN that the company will not be localizing the game for Western audiences on Nintendo 3DS, and while the game is coming to the Nintendo Switch down the line, they stated that the game would not be released this year and will come much farther down the line.
A Square Enix representative explained in a statement that “our aim with Dragon Quest XI and the Dragon Quest brand is to grow the audience in the West,” and added that “from a business point of view, it made strategic sense to release the 3DS version in Japan in 2017.” However, for Western audiences, Square Enix is instead planning to “focus on the PlayStation 4 and PC (Steam) platforms,” meaning that the 3DS version will not be brought over to the West.
As far as the Switch release goes, Square added that “we are also developing the Switch version for Europe and North America,” but added that “development is expected to take a long time from a technological standpoint as well,” and said that the release for it will be “much later” and would not be coming in 2018.
Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age will release for PS4 and PC in the West on September 4th, 2018, while a Nintendo Switch release is on the horizon.