Dragon Quest won't be able to become as popular as something like Pokemon or even Final Fantasy. Its parent company doesn't care about it enough to warrant that.
However, if SquareEnix could pull their head out of the sand and actually advertise the games, Dragon Quest could be making sales of anywhere from 500,000-1 million each title in America and near that in Europe. But it would take a progressive marketing campaign. And, even more importantly, they would have to market EACH game. None of this on again, off again marketing they've been doing with the series where they market a couple games (DQVIII/Joker) and then drop all support for the next installments (Swords/IV/V).
A series doesn't gain sales simply off the reputation of its previous titles. You think Final Fantasy games sell without marketing? SquareEnix is throwing millions in ads behind those games. So why won't they spare even a dime for Dragon Quest anymore?
Six upcoming games you should look into:
