Ivor. I was referring to DQ games that have come out since SquareEnix took over (and started the 'turn everything British/European with accents).
And yes, each subsequent game has sold less. I'll just use American sales as Europe is always a guess, if not unknown.
Dragon Quest VIII - 450,000 Units
Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker - 550,00 Units
Dragon Quest Swords Wii - 100,000 Units
Dragon Quest IV DS - 150,000 Units
So if you count Dragon Quest Swords Wii (A console Title), the series is actually doing better on handhelds. But the trend is still downwards. And why does Dragon Quest Monsters shine through as a title that sells? You can make your own guess as to why. But its also the only title in that batch that has 1) No edited content from the original game 2) Had some solid marketing when it came out and 3) Has a tolerable localization.
I'd be surprised if Dragon Quest V sells more than 200,000 Units in America. Even with higher scores from reviewers than DQIV and the original Dragon Quest V being considered one of the best JRPGs ever made. Why? Because 2 things sell games in America. Marketing and word of mouth. SquareEnix isn't coming up with their end of the bargain with the marketing....and you need a quality product to generate the other kind of hype.
You would be surprised how much a bad translation and slapping your fans in the face will kill your sales. And if you really think '150,000 is good enough', perhaps you should put into perspective the fact that Dragon Quest is on the charts as one of the top 10 best selling series in the world. Yet nearly all of that revenue comes from Japan. You really think SE doesn't want that success to work its way into other regions, like it did for Final Fantasy? Of course they do. They just need to stop doing it half assed.
Six upcoming games you should look into:
