Mobile game Dragon Quest of the Stars (global) shutting down after barely a year

[toythatkills]

Just had it's first anniversary events a few weeks ago, and updated today with the news that it's closing on June 30th. I know not many people here played it, but it's a timely reminder not to invest in Square-Enix mobile games in the West.

For comparison, the JP version has been running for over five years at this point and there is tons of content that will never be translated.

 

[rpm]

Wow, crazy fast.

Wonder how long the upcoming Dai based mobile game will last over here considering Dai isn't really well known at all in the west.

 

[Izanagi89]

FG3000 gonna be eating well. Also, the game wasn't looking hot from the start, locking crucial QoL behind subscription. That said, there's a few Square mobile gachas that are still doing well, but this one was never gonna be one of them.

 

[Kwigo]

Wow, crazy fast.

Wonder how long the upcoming Dai based mobile game will last over here considering Dai isn't really well known at all in the west.

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The anime could help with that, but then again it's a bit "old school" in its narration which might put off some people.

 

[texhnolyze]

I gave it a fair chance back then, played the game for a whole week even though not extensively. I gets boring after a while.

 

[Kalor]

Not too surprising. I tried to get into it and it was fairly clunky and lacking in QoL compared to other games. Wonder if DQ Tact will suffer the same fate as I had the same issues with it.

 

[Strings]

I have no idea why they brought over this and Tact.

 

[Nolbertos]

Wow that's depressing news to hear now :(

 

[Magneto]

Not surprising at all. Why the hell did they bring that 5 years old game a few months before DQ Tact ?

 

[cw_sasuke]

SE is delusional and always tries to bring over these old DQ mobile games the second they have a console release lined up - no, the casual audience aint checking this one out because you release XI S on consoles/PC.

I hope that Dai does at least somewhat better because of the anime, but with SE you always have to be doubtful.

 

[Choppasmith]

Never got a chance to play it because it was incompatible with my phone. I am playing Tact now and quite like it despite it being a bit grindy.

I have no idea why they brought over this and Tact.

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TBF I remember one of the SE producers saying they wanted to bring out more DQ spinoffs in the West between big DQ releases to help it stay in the public mindset or something like that.

AFAIK Stars had a bunch of weird crossovers like Godzilla that never made it West but Tact doesn't have that aside from DQX.

The anime could help with that, but then again it's a bit "old school" in its narration which might put off some people.

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The handling of the anime is weird. I feel like if they pushed it a little, get someone to dub it and get it on something like Toonami it would do wonders. The subs use the localized names for spells and items but everything else seems like it's done by someone who's never played the games before. And yet we're getting the Mobile game and likely the console game. It sort of defies logic.

 

[Kwigo]

The handling of the anime is weird. I feel like if they pushed it a little, get someone to dub it and get it on something like Toonami it would do wonders. The subs use the localized names for spells and items but everything else seems like it's done by someone who's never played the games before. And yet we're getting the Mobile game and likely the console game. It sort of defies logic.

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I don't know enough about DQ to comment on that, but to me it feels like some old school fantasy setting/story that doesn't take itself too seriously and somehow manages to avoid modern shonen stereotypes. It's weird in that sense as it's so completely different to anything else I've seen in the last 2 decades.

It's a really great sunday morning cartoon, just like Digimon Adventure 2020, but not something I could really get invested into, unlike Jujutsu Kaisen or Dr. Stone for instance, for which I hate having to wait a year to see the next part.

 

[Gloam]

Stars is a fairly bsrebones kinda game. It was never gonna do too well. Walk could work out well, but there's too much region specificity stuff to think about with it.

 

[rhandino]

This flop released like 2 months ago.

I bet she is also going to crash and burn soon:tm:

 

[KtSlime]

It's survived over 5 years in Japan. The West just hates DQ.

 

[SirNinja]

Jesus, that was fast. Barely a year.

EDIT: wait, this thing has been around for over half a decade in Japan?! WTF Square...

 

[Rotobit]

Didn't the Star Ocean and especially SaGa gachas do inexplicably well in a global stage? Wouldn't be surprised if SE just throws these out there to see if they'll stick in much the same way.

Personally it just puts me off trying any of them because I ain't investing money in something that'll potentially be gone a few months later.

 

[cw_sasuke]

It's survived over 5 years in Japan. The West just hates DQ.

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Dont think it would have even survived that long in Japan if it launched last year.

Too little too late - pretty much DQ western efforts in a nutshell for the most part.

 

[KtSlime]

Dont think it would have even survived that long in Japan if it launched last year.

Too little too late - pretty much DQ western efforts in a nutshell for the most part.

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星のドラゴンクエスト was launched in October of 2015, I know this because I have been playing it since its release.

星のドラゴンクエスト - Wikipedia

ja.wikipedia.org

It's doing fine, it probably will be around for another 2-3 more years.

 

[fiendcode]

I wish they'd give DQ Rivals a shot in the west. Also, where english DQVII?

 

[cw_sasuke]

星のドラゴンクエスト was launched in October of 2015, I know this because I have been playing it since its release.

星のドラゴンクエスト - Wikipedia

ja.wikipedia.org

It's doing fine, it probably will be around for another 2-3 more years.

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My point was that it would have had a more difficult time in Japan if it launched in 2020. Competition in 2015 wasnt as fierce in the mobile space in 2015 and expectation werent a high.

Game launched the same year as Genshin Impact and DQ as an IP isnt strong enough that people would play a "old" mobile game. Its all about perception with these mobile games and that western launch just wasnt a good look.

 

[MrWindUpBird]

It's survived over 5 years in Japan. The West just hates DQ.

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The problem with Stars is that it IS a 5 year old game that was released way, way into it's life cycle without any decent QoL or anything to bring it up to par with other mobile Gacha games. Let's not pretend like it's entirely on the West that "hates DQ" when Square refuses to keep even their games that do well open for more than a year or two. They should have brought the DQ card game instead of this one.

Pro tip: Don't release old ass games that are highly lacking and expect to make boatloads of money.

 

[Quinton]

Didn't the Star Ocean and especially SaGa gachas do inexplicably well in a global stage? Wouldn't be surprised if SE just throws these out there to see if they'll stick in much the same way.

Personally it just puts me off trying any of them because I ain't investing money in something that'll potentially be gone a few months later.

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Yeah, same. Combine this with the fact that I don't mind being significantly behind in terms of mobile hardware (I have an iPhone 6 ffs...) and I'm not the target at all, alas.

 

[Kouriozan]

Oof, looks like if you want a long lasting Square Enix gacha it's either both FFBE / Record Keeper or Dissidia, everything else shutdown pretty fast.
And they just released a new DQ mobile game, so you know what to expect from it.

 

[Ekid]

This is why I will never play a gacha game that doesn't run on a shared server for Japan+global.

 

[CONCHOBAR]

This makes me really hesitant to start Dragon Quest Tact.

 

[Kalentan]

Oof, looks like if you want a long lasting Square Enix gacha it's either both FFBE / Record Keeper or Dissidia, everything else shutdown pretty fast.
And they just released a new DQ mobile game, so you know what to expect from it.

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AFAIK War of the Visions is doing really well in it's global version.

 

[Kikujiro]

I'm actually surprised they launched this and even the SaGa Universe game, how long is going to survive?
The market for gacha is just too competitive and in the West you have to rely on well-established IP, Final Fantasy is popular in the West, but DQ doesn't have the same pull as in its home country.

 

[Golbez]

Every time this happens I think about Dissidia Opera Omnia.

I hope the Global version is doing well, it's the only SE gacha I'm still playing.

 

[Dinjoralo]

I tried it for a short while. It... Well, it was really boring and barely anything like Dragon Quest, to put it mildly.
And right now, Dragon Quest in the west is trying to put all it's promotional effort into DQ Tact, which has similar problems for me of not being very fun and DQ-esque.
...I miss Mobius Final Fantasy.

 

[Foffy]

Well, it lasted longer than Castlevania: Grimoire of Souls at least.

 

[Earvin Infinity]

Finally, this means Togashi will go back to writing Hunter x Hunter :p

 

[Camjo-Z]

I appreciate that they made the effort to localize it and let western fans experience it considering how many DQ games we get screwed out of, but I dropped it almost immediately because it was a very boring gacha. I expect Tact will suffer the same fate in a year or so. Count me in as someone who would have rather seen that effort go towards localizing Rivals, or the mobile version of those 3DS Monsters remakes we never got.

 

[PachaelD]

Stars is a fairly bsrebones kinda game. It was never gonna do too well. Walk could work out well, but there's too much region specificity stuff to think about with it.

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Walk is the standout in the DQ mobile portfolio but yeah, I can see that. On the other hand some tweaks could make it into a better GO clone if they bring it to the west.

 

[PachaelD]

I wish they'd give DQ Rivals a shot in the west. Also, where english DQVII?

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Sadly it seems the opposite is happening and Rivals closes shop on 7/5. I wished it was an April Fools joke but it doesn't seem like it?

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