Dragon Quest Creator Addresses Retirement Possibility

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Summary

  • Dragon Quest creator and gaming icon Yuji Horii quashes the idea of retirement during a recent interview with gaming publication Famitsu.
  • Yuji Horii confirmed that he does not intend to retire anytime soon and states that he will “always be a game developer.”
  • Horii is currently working on the upcoming Dragon Quest 12: The Flames of Fate, with the recent Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake releasing to roaring success.

As a gamer who has grown up with the Dragon Quest series, I couldn’t be happier to hear that Yuji Horii has no intention of retiring. With over four decades of game design under his belt and countless memories created by his iconic creations, it feels like he is an integral part of my own life story.

The creator of the popular game series Dragon Quest, Yuji Horii, has expressed that he is not planning to retire from the gaming industry anytime soon. This long-standing role-playing game (RPG) franchise, which originated in the early days of JRPGs, first appeared on the NES back in 1986, and since then, ten main Dragon Quest titles have been released, along with numerous spinoffs that range from Pokemon-style play in Dragon Quest Monsters to survival sandbox gameplay in Dragon Quest Builders. Recently, Horii has shared his thoughts on the topic of retirement.

From the early ’80s with Enix, Yuji Horii has become a highly identifiable leader in the role-playing game (RPG) world. He’s been involved in game design and direction for every main series Dragon Quest game, along with numerous spinoffs from the franchise. Moreover, at the beginning of 2024, he turned 70 years old, dedicating over four decades of his life to game designing with Enix and later Square Enix. A recent interview hints that Yuji Horii plans to continue his work in the gaming industry for some time to come.

Dragon Quest Creator Yuji Horii Addresses Retirement Speculation

According to MyNintendoNews, a recent interview with Famitsu indicates that Yuji Horii has no plans of retiring from game development. In the interview, Horii expressed his desire to continue developing games as long as he is able. The conversation took place between two prominent creators in the JRPG genre, including Horii and Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator of Final Fantasy. Horii’s studio, Armor Project, has an exclusive contract with Square Enix. In simpler terms, Horii shared that he doesn’t plan to stop making games anytime soon, and he was interviewed alongside other well-known JRPG creators, including Hironobu Sakaguchi.

With Yuji Horii intending to continue his work, fans are already looking forward to his upcoming project. Square-Enix unveiled Dragon Quest 12: The Flames of Fate at the start of 2021, hinting at significant modifications in the next main series game created by Horii. Dragon Quest 12 is anticipated to modernize the franchise’s conventional turn-based battle system and feature a more somber narrative. However, a launch date for Dragon Quest 12 has yet to be disclosed, as the game experienced additional delays earlier this year.

In contrast to the challenges faced with Dragon Quest 12, Square Enix’s recent remake, Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake, has enjoyed tremendous success since its release. This remake garnered both critical and fan praise last month, with the classic Dragon Quest game selling close to a million physical copies in Japan within its first week alone. The impressive sales figures suggest a promising future for the upcoming HD-2D remakes of Dragon Quest 1 and Dragon Quest 2, slated for launch next year. The enduring popularity of Dragon Quest further solidifies Yuji Horii’s position as an influential figure in the JRPG genre.

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2024-12-21 22:43