Dragon Quest Hits 100 Million Units Sold Across 40-Year Franchise Run

Dragon Quest has passed 100 million units sold worldwide, Square Enix announced in September 2026, as the series marks its 40th anniversary. The figure covers the entire franchise, combining physical shipments and digital sales across mainline games, remakes and spin-offs.

A 40-year run

The first Dragon Quest launched in Japan on the Famicom in May 1986, created by Yuji Horii with character designs by Akira Toriyama and music by Koichi Sugiyama. It helped define the Japanese role-playing game, and the series became a cultural phenomenon in Japan, where new mainline releases have long been major events.

Series creator Yuji Horii marked the milestone with a message to fans, thanking them for their support and saying “we will continue to work hard to deliver exciting adventures for everyone, so please continue to support us.” He also reflected that when he made the first game 40 years ago, he never imagined the series would reach this point.

Recent releases

The series now spans 11 numbered mainline entries, the most recent being Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age, first released in 2017 and later expanded as Dragon Quest XI S for Switch and other platforms. Square Enix has also been remaking classic entries in its HD-2D style, starting with Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake in 2024 and followed by Dragon Quest I and II HD-2D Remake in 2025. These remakes have introduced the early games to a new generation of players on modern consoles and PC.

Alongside the mainline games, Dragon Quest has a long list of spin-offs, including the Dragon Quest Monsters, Dragon Quest Builders and Dragon Quest Heroes series, as well as mobile games that are especially popular in Japan.

Dragon Quest XII

The next mainline game, Dragon Quest XII, was first announced in 2021. In May 2026, Horii and executive producer Yosuke Saito said development had been restarted from scratch. No release window has been announced, so the 12th mainline entry is still some way off.

Why it matters

The 100 million mark places Dragon Quest among the best-selling game franchises in history and confirms it as one of Square Enix’s two flagship RPG series alongside Final Fantasy. While the series is less culturally dominant in the West than in Japan, the HD-2D remakes and multiplatform releases have been steadily growing its global audience.

For players, the anniversary is a good moment to start. The HD-2D remakes of Dragon Quest I, II and III offer the original trilogy in a modern form, while Dragon Quest XI S remains the best entry point for the modern series. With Dragon Quest XII restarted, fans should expect Square Enix to focus on remakes and anniversary celebrations in the near term.