Speculation: Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D's fate as Square Enix announces development changes

The fate of several upcoming Square Enix RPGs, including Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D may be hanging by a thread. According to 4gamer, the company sent out a letter in-house about a “notification of Extraordinary Losses”. As a result of these losses, the game development company has disclosed that they, as of March 27, 2024, are canceling the development of certain “high-definition (HD) games” that were already greenlit. The company plans on being more selective about where it puts its resources in the future.

Unfortunately, the letter, which has also been translated and published on the Square Enix website, does not detail which of the upcoming games have been canceled, Dragon Quest 3 2D-HD or otherwise.

Many fans have their fears and worries about which games are doomed to never see the light of day. At this time, all we can do is speculate about which games have been canceled. Here are some possibilities.

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Could Dragon Quest 3 2D-HD’s future be in jeopardy from Square Enix’s latest edict?

It's beautiful so far - let's hope it didn't get canceled (Image via Square Enix)

Square Enix’s in-house letter doesn’t specify any games, but the phrase “high-definition (HD) games” may spell disaster for Dragon Quest 3 2D-HD. In the modern era, all games more or less, are high definition. It’s just how things are done these days. However, the one game that they’ve officially announced as an “HD” game is DQ3.

It would be a strange choice for Square Enix to abandon Dragon Quest 3 2D-HD after being announced in 2021. Originally revealed as part of the franchise’s 35th Anniversary announcements, it’s easily one of the franchise’s most popular games - at least in Japan. It’s also my favorite entry into the series, other than DQ11.

With the letter specifically mentioning HD games, there aren’t too many entries this could be in reference to. There are other games it could mean, as there are plenty of remakes rumored to be on the way. What could the future of Dragon Quest 3 2D-HD be?

Between this letter and the changing of the guard in the DQ department at Square Enix, I’m worried that this was the major game that was cut. However, I’m still holding onto hope that this isn’t going to be the case. It's looking grim, but I think if any game gets saved, it will be this one.

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What other RPGs could be affected by this announcement?

If DQ10 Offline were coming, it probably isn't now (Image via Square Enix)

There are at least three Dragon Quest titles on the way from Square Enix right now: Dragon Quest 3 2D-HD, Dragon Quest 12, and the third is admittedly speculative: Dragon Quest 10 Offline. It is already out in Japan, but there have been rumors of an English port, which could no longer be the case.

As Dragon Quest 10 never came to America, abandoning a port of it probably wouldn’t be a big deal - if that were ever going to be the case in the first place. Dragon Quest 12 is rumored to have been going through some troubles too, but since we have nothing concrete to substantiate that on, it’s best not to dwell on it. It’s unlikely that the next mainline entry of the series would be canceled.

The 2021 NVIDIA GeForce Leak had a few games listed on it of note: In particular, a Final Fantasy 9 remake, and a Final Fantasy Tactics Remake. As these have not been officially announced anywhere, it wouldn’t hurt the company on social media to simply drop them. They were among the 18,000 games on a list from Nvidia, after all.

There’s no way that Final Fantasy 7’s final game will get canceled either, and the same goes for Final Fantasy 17, though that may not even be in development yet. If the company is going to get rid of anything, it’s likely DQ10, FF9, and FF Tactics, since none of these have official release announcements in North America.

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Unfortunately, there’s no word as of this writing as to what games will be affected by Square Enix’s announcement. We’ll keep you updated with any cancellations as we hear of them.