Everything Square Enix Announced During the Dragon Quest 40th Anniversary Livestream

Dragon Quest XI S hits Switch 2 on September 24 — but there's a catch

Fans will be able to play the last mainline installment on Nintendo's newest hardware this fall. Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age – Definitive Edition launches for Nintendo Switch 2 on September 24, 2026, priced at $39.99. The port includes a choice between a graphics mode and a performance mode, with reports indicating targets of 1440p at 30 fps and 1080p at 60 fps respectively.

In a move that quickly drew community attention, Square Enix confirmed that save data from the original Nintendo Switch version cannot be transferred to the new release, and there is no upgrade path for existing owners. The physical edition will be a game-key card rather than a cartridge containing the full game data. This makes the Switch 2 version a clean break rather than a cross-platform continuation — a point of friction for players with hundreds of hours of progress on the original version.

Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World goes fully multiplatform

Rounding out the event, Square Enix announced Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World, a brand-new entry in the monster-collecting spin-off series. In a significant shift for the traditionally Nintendo-centric sub-series, the game is confirmed for a wide launch across Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC (Steam and Microsoft Store).

A brief teaser trailer showed dual protagonists — Bianca and Nera, characters familiar from Dragon Quest V — alongside a variety of monsters, but no release date or gameplay details were shared. Yuji Horii noted the team hopes to release this title before Dragon Quest XII: Beyond Dreams arrives, giving the spin-off a clearer near-term launch window than the newly rebooted mainline game.