Square Enix Asks Fans To Consider Dragon Quest Monsters eShop Version After Physical Release Sells Out

Damn, for a game that many gamers are writing off, it's sure seems to sell well. Kudos!

And Kudo to the push towards digital sales! ^^

It is Dragon Quest after all. Really curious to see how the numbers for the Japanese charts will look tomorrow.

Wonder how the game is doing in the US? Here’s to hoping we can get later or older DQM games over here in the US.

Hmm well, for me, a digital game only holds about 40-50% of the value of a physical edition, so discount the game 50-60% off in the eShop and I may “consider” it.

Conversely, SE could print more physical copies to fill the demand? But no, it’s so troublesome to actually manufacture goods, and much more profitable for them to keep prodding shoppers towards buying digitally. Ownership of tangible goods is so passé, after all. /S

@Greatluigi Dragon Quest doesn't usually get the same respect in the US as it does in Japan. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if there's a lot of importing from the US to Japan in light of the sell-outs in Japan.

It's sold out in the US as well. I'll wait it out for a physical copy, game looks good but I avoid digital when I can. Though I am certainly becoming the minority on that.

So they can turn round and say 'digital sold better than physical hence why we're only doing digital now', furthering the falsehood of digital is better than physical.

@XCWarrior I love getting physical if possible, but I have been finding the sales for digital can be pretty good. I would like to experience the game without it having it to be high in price (i.e. any old Pokemon game). However, does physical mean anything anymore when updates, patches, and DLC are a thing?

Welp get it where you can get it.

Pokémon + DQ in Japan on Switch. Who would have thunk.

@MysteryCupofJoe Yes, physical means you can resell it later and if Nintendo pulls a Sony (deleting movies and TV shows that people purchased), you will still have your copy.

If anything, this Sony thing should wake people up that a digital 'purchase' isn't a purchase at all, it's a full priced rental.

@Arawn93 Dragon Quest did the monster collecting thing before Pokemon ever did. I believe one of the mainline Dragon Quest games first jumpstarted the monster collecting genre, with party members that were all monsters you could collect.

Well print some more then!

They probably didn't have enough stock which could be a marketing strategy on their side to get more consumers buying digitally and reduce second hand sales.

I'm finding it odd that there are no western reviews yet??

They’ve done this before, right? Tactics.

@VoidofLight I believe the Megami Tensei series, starting in 1987, are considered the first monster collecting games, but Dragon Quest V from 1992 is also an early example, predating Pokémon. Pokémon is what really popularized the genre though, probably because it got a world wide release and focused more on the collecting aspect than the RPG elements found in the other franchises mentioned.

@Alexface Square Enix didn't send out review codes in advance, don't know why. Some speculate that they want to hide how cheaply made the game seems, but anyone who plays the demo will notice the bad performance and the low effort graphics anyway, so that theory seems weird. At least the game is fun, but they could've done more with it.

@VoidofLight You couldn't "collect" them but Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei did turning enemies into party members in 1987, while Dragon Quest III was still in development. (though I've never played them but I've read that maybe Wizardry IV had that. That game was even older. All I've heard about it was that it had a "play as the bad guy to stop the good guy" thing, and can only say that from my experience playing Wiz V SNES is that the Wizardry games were for dedicated experts only.)
Though that MT game had a few jank game decisions so I don't know if it's a game I'd necessarily suggest playing now.
Even then, MT spinoff game Last Bible was probably the first with Pokemon-like mechanics, released in 1992 on Game Boy (the same year as Dragon Quest V, which I'm told is likely the game you're thinking of). Though Last Bible wouldn't get a USA release until it was upgraded on Game Boy Color and released in 1999 under the name change Revelations: The Demon Slayer.

Though I've tried to play RTDS and it really felt like the outcome of the demon "negotiations" were about as random as chucking balls.

I think I might be able to look past the poor performance of this game, but then there is yet another aspect holding me back from purchasing it: the DLC that holds quality of life features behind a paywall.

I’ve got a better idea, I’ll wait till the physical version is like $40

Copies filling the shelves in my local game shop today. Just a tweet to maximize sales from people that don’t have enough free time to find the place stocking it.

@B3RTAY
Do you live in Japan?

@Teksetter First off, pre-orders for the physical copies were up for months with no closure - anyone who wanted a copy had plenty of time to do so. Second, you can still order it through Amazon - you just have to wait a few weeks, the price you pay for not pre-ordering in advance. Third, Treasures did not sell well and gathered dust at all my local retailers until heavily marked down. So I don't blame Square for printing less copies this time around when the demand wasn't there for the last DQ spin-off.

@JagGentlemann yeah man

Solution? Make more physical copies soon. It’s that simple. Consumers want it physically.

@Thief
Fine points you make, but entirely null unless you live in Japan or are intimately familiar with physical retail sales there?

Shoppers and especially retailers in Japan haven’t embraced digital media to the extent many Western countries have, and DQ games are especially popular there. This kind of shortage would usually generate a thank you, apology, and “we’ll print more, be patient” message from the publisher, rather than a terse “go buy digital.”

I think that’s why this story is newsworthy - just another indication of a trend disliked by stubborn old folks like myself.

After 2-3h wondering "WTF with these graphics and these performance hiccups?!", I am now truly enjoying the game! Spend about 12h playing it and I can't stop playing it! Had the chance to receive a £5 voucher on Amazon at the perfect time so could get it for 39.95£. I would also strongly recommend to anyone to grab DQ Treasures currently at 22.95£ on Amazon and Thegamecollection . These 2 games will become pretty rare in the near future for sure.

@Crono1973 Yes, being able to resell it is always cool. But when the servers for updating the game shuts down, you won't have a complete game (i.e. Smash Bros. for the Wii U). I can resell the game but for anyone new that wants that version will never get all the DLC. Or what about bug glitches like the Wii version of Skyword Sword? I feel us physical buyers are getting a bit of the short stick with the digital age.

Apparently copies already showing up at 2nd hand stores in Japan already.

@Teksetter
I normally only purchase physical copies of games so if I pull the trigger on this I will wait to get it. As far as SE making more the issue is still probably Nintendo requiring a set order of cartridges which makes publishers wary of being stuck with unsold inventory. I would assume DQ is a series where they could prebuy with little issue but who knows.

@XCWarrior I feel the same way. I try to avoid digital anytime I can as well. Physical all the way!

Needless to say I'm pumped I was able to procure myself a physical copy! When I did

Random question
Does anyone else's local game retailers just seem to never stock any new games anymore? Like in my little tiny province in Canada our local Gamestops rarely ever order in extra copies of newer games and only bring in the preorders for them. Is this an issue that's global or is it just poor management on their end here? Basically if it isn't a first party Switch game you aren't getting it locally here unless you preordered it months in advance (which I try not to do in case the game is a broken POS. So happy I held off preordering the Kong Skull Island game haha)

My Amazon copy took a delay but I eventually got it. Japan is still a bit heavy on physical even if they still try to push for digital. As for me I will always be physical whenever possible.

@xDeckardx
I can confirm that in my suburban New England area of the US, the local GameStop rarely carries extra copies of new games, or if they do, it may be 1 or 2 copies. The sales agents there and I think this corporate policy causes more harm than good.

@Teksetter Okay so it's not just my little slice of the world!
Gosh it sucks as a physical collector to try and procure stuff when storefronts refuse to have stock on stuff haha

Ok since physical sales of this was like 300k+ I don’t believe the conspiracy theories here that it was SE trying to force more digital sales.

This game sold more than DQ11 on Switch. They likely genuinely ran out of copies because they didn’t expect sales to pass a mainline game which is totally understandable.

This is their funny way of saying that they are basically doing a limited release on the physical version of the game, they obviously don't plan or intent to print and ship out to many copies just so they can save up more money.

Imo I think this is just another big stab at physical media since most gaming companies have taken to printing out less and less copies of their games ever since digital started booming.

@Shade_Koopa The reality is that the only gamers "writing off" the game are Western gamers.

This game was absolutely going to be a mega-hit in Japan, like virtually every other Dragon Quest game. They literally have entire stores dedicated to the franchise (Lawson's Dragon Quest stores are amazing).

@GameOtaku Solution? Make more physical copies soon. It’s that simple. Consumers want it physically.

You think it was the simple right that would make more sales for them. eShop wasn't why it sold out they need to understand this sooner then later.

@xDeckardx
Truly, it is getting to be a pain to buy physical. It’s pretty much preorder only, even at GameStop now!
And then half the games I want are from boutique publishers like LRG and then it takes 8-12 months to actually get the game.😑

I miss the old days of just walking into your local retailer to browse a relatively huge selection and buy something.

Until i get an option to resell digital games.. its a big fat no from me

@SwitchForce
Thing is they severely underestimated demand. They did this before with physical copies of FF pixel remasters. High demand but very few produced, the standard edition sold out in no time at all! Let’s not forget the whole kingdom hearts debacle being cloud only either. That’s even less switch owners being able to actually play or buy their products.

@MysteryCupofJoe Yeah, you still physically own it. So when the digital copy accidently goes away, you still have hte physical one.

@Teksetter Oh I know 100% what you mean!
Hell it seems that even my local Wal Marts don't even get stock on newer games anymore...
Up until like a year ago I found Wal Mart was the place to go to get the more interesting third party games that Gamestop would only carry a single copy of (stuff like Starbase Startopia or whatever it was called), but the last year I've noticed them carrying less and less games. To the point where they reduced the size of our video game sections drastically and barely even bring in copies of first party games (Switch, Playstation, and Xbox included)

It's a sad world we're living in when we push physical media/collecting to the wayside. And I say this as a hardcore Bluray/DVD collector lol

@GameOtaku - I think this was more a expect Japanese game more then a world phenomenal game sale. That was the mistake they did. Most like the DQM series but this was the unexpected one. They most likely will have more physical after the Holiday assuming Switch 2 doesn't get announced here.

I'm glad they say they'll make more physical copies rather than say sorry you miss out but the digital version is always available.

@AmplifyMJ They did this most recently with Star Ocean 2.

Unless you preordered here, no store carried the switch physical game

I'm not surprised digital sales aren't as common in Japan, have you seen their second hand shops?? They are amazing!

tried the demo, just didn't really grab me.

print some more copies problem solved..

Maybe if I can take a picture of my money to buy the digital copy, then they can pretend they have my money while I pretend I own the game

Should they print more? Absolutely.

Will they? I kind of doubt it. SE hasn’t been the greatest consumer friendly company in ages. From a business sense, they see the upfront costs for a product people can play digitally. Would be interesting to learn about minimum purchase orders and costs, And finding out how many copies would need to be sold again to make it profitable.

demo was ok, waiting on Builders 3.

Must be selling like hotcakes.

@CharlieZee Hit it right on the nose

@Zeroo Wow they actually did that? -_-

@stevep Okay that gave me a good laugh.

Remember when Publishers just printed more copies?

Consider shutting up and printing more copies.

Well the request is working as the game is behind suika game for downloads in Japan. As in second place on the eshop.

Wouldn’t it be great if we all just said no to digital and they HAD to make physical copies in order to sell their games? Why does anyone really waste money on these digital rentals anyway? And the argument that they are better for bug fixes, etc is ridiculous… that’s just giving a pass for the lazy game developers that don’t put out finished/polished games like they used to.

Im hope they keep on printing more. I dont want to miss out while waiting for a discount.

physical copies sell out

“Durrrr... buy digital.”

How out of touch can they be?

And if they have no intention of issuing a physical reprint, then the digital price ought to be amended to reflect the substantially diminished value of their “product”. I’ll never pay AU$80 for a digital-only game. Mayyyyybe if it was an amazing open world VR game on PC, but not the likes of this.