14 DAY TRIAL // Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies has been out in The Land of the Rising Sun since July 11, 2009 and it has been a great success, selling more than 4 million copies until the beginning of 2010. And now, Nintendo has announced that it will be taking over publishing duties for the North American release of the Japanese hit from Square Enix.
Cammie Dunaway, who is the executive vice president of sales and marketing at Nintendo of America, said that “We're pleased to announce today that we're working with Square Enix, and that Nintendo of America will be publishing Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies.”
It seems that the collaboration between Nintendo and Square Enix is set to become more visible, almost two years after Satoru Iwata, the president of the former, stated that the companies should create “a strong tag team to promote Dragon Quest overseas.”
Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies was developed by Level 5 and recorded more than 2 million pre-orders in Japan, even managing to get the title of most eagerly expected game, beating up fellow JRPG Final Fantasy XIII. The launch allowed Square Enix to get record profits during last year.
Nintendo has been taking over publishing in North America for some Game Boy Advance games but for the current console generation, Dragon Quest IX is the first example of collaboration between the companies. It has not offered a clear release date for the DS title but it is widely expected to arrive during the summer. Historically, Dragon Quest titles have not sold as well in the United States as they have done in Japan.
Dragon Quest IX should also be outed on the European market at some point, but it’s unclear who will be in charge of publishing.