Dragon Quest X came to the Japanese 3DS recently, and as expected, the game sold very well — in fact, the first shipment of physical copies went in the space of a single week.
However, such success has caused serious headaches not only for Square Enix, but for the hordes of existing Dragon Quest X players. The influx of new participants has caused the game's servers to struggle, and during peak hours — that's 7PM until midnight — players are finding it difficult to actually get connected.
This issue will be related to the large volume of new players, but it's also partly down to the fact that the 3DS version uses cloud technology to stream the game to consoles, and that naturally demands more resource that the other versions of the game.
Square Enix has said that it is working on bolstering its servers to cope with the increased demand, but for the time being it has put the brakes on any further shipments of the game, and has also removed it from the 3DS eShop.
Dragon Quest X is an online version of the popular JRPG, and launched on the Wii in Japan in August 2012, with a Wii U update appearing in March the following year. It's also available on PC and Android. The 3DS version is essentially the same game, but piped to consoles using cloud streaming. The game is currently exclusive to Japan.
[source siliconera.com]
Comments 36
Gotta give SE credit for pulling the game from sale until everythings running smoothly. I wouldnt expect that from Acti, Ubi, EA (Battlefield 4 says hi!), etc.
It really seems they have learnt from the FF14 launch distaster, good on them!
Uh?? I remember entering the japanese eshop on release date and it said dragon quest X wasn't purchasable through it on the first place.... too bad as I wanted that game.
I thought the Japanese did not like MMOS, or maybe the dragon quest brand is so strong there that they'll even buy a First Person Shooter as long as it was called Dragon Quest
Watch dogs available from the 18th of november . By Ubisoft mexico
"Oh my... We have to remove the game cause it sold too well!!! OoO;;; "
Surely the developpers are working crazily right now for fix and improve the servers' situation, but if you can't avoid to have a problem with your work then this is the best mess you can end with XD
I want to try Dragon Quest X...
Unexpected? Yeah cause dragon quest and the 3DS are really unpopular in Japan
@Ichiban indeed!
Even though I actually think this is a really good move by SE so that their customers aren't getting a substandard experience just reading "Square Enix Temporarily Pulls 3DS Dragon Quest X From Sale Due To Unexpected Success" I was like......
Seriously how often do these situations occur.
What? You want Dragon Quest X? NO GAME FOR YOU!
This is common for MMO games. If the servers can't handle the amount of players join then they just temporarily stop selling the game till they have the servers to handle it.
No MMO has ever had a successful launch regarding their servers.
You have two options in a situation like that:
1: You do the above, pull the game from sales to attract ess new customers, recieving an image blemish due to acting irrationally and probably miss out on a lot of potential future consumers
2: You crank that sh+t up to eleven. You ride that insane wave of popularity, maybe even lenghten the sales and use that income to buy new servers.
Whatever it is, i think its time for SE to realize how idiotic it is to think that this game / franchise "isnt popular enough to localize it"
Double or even tripple the servers, bring it out world wide and earn youself a golden hand or two.
Proves the 3rd parties don't believe their games can sell on Nintendo systems anymore
Meanwhile Dragon Quest XI is a PlayStation exclusive... and is probably going to be localized instead of this.
Actually the Digital version never went on sale! I thought something was up, especially because the gane has a 2 Star average on Amazon Japan.
That's at least a nice problem to have. Better that then no one buying it. I'll assume this might be the best seller there this week.
@Dipper723
Only Dragon Quest: Heroes is PS exclusive.
I'm a big fan of the series (DQIX is probably my favorite DS game), but not really into MMOs, so I'm not really bummed that this never came west. They've already hinted at a DQXI announcement in the near future, and I hope to heavens it hits the Wii U.
Same thing happened when FF14:ARR came out... They didn't expect so many people to buy it so they had to stop digital sales and character creation. You would think that they would have some backup servers on stand by or at least be ready to support everything that you put on the shelf. but ultimately this is a good thing for the franchise... high demand
And people still think that cloud gaming has arrived.
It may yet get here. But it isn't here yet.
I read the title, and I was like... well, Jazzer94's post sums it up.
@DualWielding ...Dude, you have NO idea how much they LOVE MMOs. Nobunaga's Ambition and Romance of the Three Kingdoms were basically launch MMOs for the PS4 and Wii U respectively and they garner a huge following, albeit a cult following. It's enough that they keep making more installments for each franchise.
@Mega719 ...What are you talking about? SE stated that sales were already much higher than they expected, but since the 3DS player base has to access the game via the cloud, so many people trying to access the game within the usual timeframe for playtime made it impossible to even login. There's no console agenda in this article.
http://arcadesushi.com/square-enix-would-love-to-give-dragon-quest-x-a-western-release/
@SCAR392 What have they said about DQXI other than it is coming in 2016 ? (And it is going to be on a home console not portable).
There are obiviously a lot of contributing factors here, but to me this is sort of endemic to JP console gaming. Shows me this isn't just a problem for Nintendo. I know there are Western games with server problems, etc. But Dragon Warrior is the most popular videogame in Japan by a country mile. SE releasing the most popular game on the most popular system using a server-side resource intensive solution means your infrastructure is going to tested & stressed, you better have the resources in place. They weren't even able to get through the first shipment, were they expecting to slowly build up their servers as they sold out the first shipment? Seems flimsy and honestly unrealistic.
Just seems like ignorance to me. I don't necessarily blame SE specifically, but I think most of the leading companies in the Japanese videogame industry share blame here. I feel like its a byproduct of an an intensely insular mindset, now not even able accommodate like the 2nd most affluent population (Japan, that is) that is their native market. Maybe there are a lot of people, executives in charge who are just so darn out of touch. Maybe mobile isn't the only (though it is obviously the largest) contributing factor to the decline of the console industry in Japan.
@kensredemption
Except it'd be a mess in America. Our Internet is waaaayyy too bad here to competently stream an MMO's data files AND keep a connection to the game servers open at the same time.
We need another 100-200 years before we can get to the same level as South Korea, Japan, and Hong Kong.
At first glance, this was like HUUUHHHHHHHH?! But yeah, good on them for pulling the sale so they can work on the servers much greedier companies wouldn't have even bothered.
@Mega719 Uhh, no, it proves Square has no faith in Dragon Quest X because:
1.- It's an MMO
2.- It sold like crap on both Wii and Wii U
3.- It's an MMO.
@Melkac @kensredemption you two are clearly not understanding the joke. SE isn't the first 3rd party to underestimate how well their games really fare on Nintendo systems
Why is it Japan exclusive still? I promise there's Dragon Quest love here in the US, and I'm sure in Europe and all those other wonderful places too.
@DualWielding Actually, there are lots of Japanese MMOs.
@Dipper723 They said it was "being developed simulataneously" to mean that Heroes won't interfere with XI's development. It doesn't necessarily mean it's being developed for Playstation systems.
Yet again, a company doesn't prepare for the release of their product and customers pay the price.
I hope Dragon Quest VII gets a 3DS release in the west and Dragon Quest XI will be single player again. Sucks I have to skip X just because it's a subscription MMO.
I think it means that Dragon Quest X should of been on the 3DS to begin with.
Hello! USA and Europe is begging for this release
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