This year’s Dragon Quest Day again had several announcements, most notably a status update onDragon Quest XIIby Yuji Horii.
It’s past midnight in Japan, and Square Enix' JRPG seriesDragon Questis celebrating its 36th anniversary this August 20, 2025. The date has been rebranded for years now asDragon QuestDay, which major announcements each year.
We can’t stress enough how importantDragon Questis in Japan. It’s pretty much the country’s unofficial state religion. It’s not an exaggeration to say all Japanese media has someDragon Questin it, as some concepts it popularized like “Yuusha/Hero” and Maou/Demon Lord" are recycled everywhere from children’s picture books to eroge (PC only Japanese games with explicit content). And that’s not even going into all the isekai anime popular nowadays. The JRPG genre as a whole was heavily influenced byDragon Questtoo, so every JRPG fan is awaiting the release of the next mainDragon Questgame.
Dragon Quest Creator Yuji Horii Shares New DQ12 Development Update
Square Enix published a special video on May 27, at midnight JST, featuringDragon Questseries creator Yuji Horii. In the 2-minutes long video, Horii is seen visiting Dragon Quest Island and sharing several updates on the series' upcoming releases. In particular, Horii pointed out that the development ofDragon Quest XIIis going well, but we won’t be seeing the game soon.
Dragon Quest XIIwas first announced at the 2021 Dragon Quest Day exactly one year ago. No gameplay or cinematic trailer has been revealed yet.
It’s also interesting to note Yuji Horii did not bring up theDragon Quest IIIremake at all. Seeing it’s another HD-2D game, Square Enix might be waiting to first release theLive A LiveHD-2D remake before showing more ofDragon Quest IIIremake. We might see the remake again during the E3 season or later on at Tokyo Game Show 2022 this September.
Lastly, Yuji Horii also confirmedDragon Quest XIIwill not be released in 2022, though that’s obviously something everyone had guessed. Square Enix did not announce a release estimate or platforms for the game yet. You can check the full announcement video with Yuji Horii further below, don’t forget to activate the Closed Captions.
