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Long Lines And Sell-Outs For Dragon Quest XI In Japan

L

LordOfLore

Banned
Kotaku.

Water is wet. Sugar is sweet. And Japan loves Dragon Quest. In the least surprising news of the weekend, the latest DQ release drew long lines. At some locations, the game sold out.

Website Inside Games covered the Tokyo launch, reporting how over 200 people lined up at the Bic Camera in Ikebukuro. Another 200 people lined up at the Yodobashi Camera in Akihabara.

Some registers were marked “For Dragon Quest XI Only” to handle pre-orders.

Shops also did this for Splatoon 2, and it seems like a smart way to prevent those with pre-orders from having to line up for a long time.
Click to expand...

Tons of photos at the link.
 
M

mickagau33

Member
Can't wait for numbers ! Hope they are really really high, game deserves it and it will show SE Dragon Quest offline games with a strong cast are what they need to so ! :p
 
Y

Yjynx

Member
Well quite surprise for PS4, since you could easily download the game to play while wait later for the physical for collection.
 
T

Trago

Member
giphy.gif
 
I

Inuhanyou

Believes Dragon Quest is a franchise managed by Sony
Yjynx said:
Well quite surprise for PS4, since you could easily download the game to play while wait later for the physical for collection.
Click to expand...

Downloading in japan like that is still a vast minority of folks, traditional channels are still the main ways people buy
 
S

Samaritan

Member
I'm always baffled when I see so many people lining up for physical versions of a game in Japan. I understand not wanting a digital version, or having an internet plan that makes downloading such large files difficult, but not ordering the game from Amazon or other online retailer and instead waiting in huge lines for hours? I'd love for someone to explain this phenomenon to me.
 
K

Kyoufu

Member
Samaritan said:
I'm always baffled when I see so many people lining up for physical versions of a game in Japan. I understand not wanting a digital version, or having an internet plan that makes downloading such large files difficult, but not ordering the game from Amazon or other online retailer and instead waiting in huge lines for hours? I'd love for someone to explain this phenomenon to me.
Click to expand...

You get so many streetpass hits when lining up for games.
 
K

KtSlime

Member
Samaritan said:
I'm always baffled when I see so many people lining up for physical versions of a game in Japan. I understand not wanting a digital version, or having an internet plan that makes downloading such large files difficult, but not ordering the game from Amazon or other online retailer and instead waiting in huge lines for hours? I'd love for someone to explain this phenomenon to me.
Click to expand...

Many people see it as a festival. I had a copy ordered on Amazon, and went to my local Geo and waited in line and picked up another copy, just for the fun of it.
 
D

deleted

Member
Owensboro said:
I heard they had to cancel school because so many kids were going to be skipping in order to play it!
Click to expand...

You're probably joking, but wasn't this a real thing once, around the PS1 or SNES era DQ? Or was that always a rumor?

Will be interesting to see the split for the game. Especially the hardware bump for PS4 and for 3DS with the 2DS XL just releasing.
 
O

Owensboro

Member
xyla said:
You're probably joking, but wasn't this a real thing once, around the PS1 or SNES era DQ? Or was that always a rumor?
Click to expand...

I always assumed it was an urban legend kids liked to tell each other during recess. At least, that's how I remember hearing it.

Edit: I probably need to be more absurd to hammer home it's a joke I guess. Rats.
 
S

Soul of the Beast

Member
Can't wait to see the sales of PS4 version versus the sales of 3DS version.

Owensboro said:
I heard they had to cancel school because so many kids were going to be skipping in order to play it!
Click to expand...

It's summer vacation in here east Asia, and it won't be over until mid/end of August. (Maybe that's why Japan love DQ so much cause they don't know what the fuck to play during summer.)
 
M

Mbolibombo

Member
If DQ XI was released on the Switch combined with the stock issues of the console at this point...

I believe we would have Southpark - Black Friday scenario on our hands..

Happy games seems to be doing great - as per expectations :p
 
D

deleted

Member
Owensboro said:
I always assumed it was an urban legend kids liked to tell each other during recess. At least, that's how I remember hearing it.

Edit: I probably need to be more absurd to hammer home it's a joke I guess. Rats.
Click to expand...

Nope, it's clearly a gag, but it scratched something I heard 10-15 years ago.
 
SmokedMeat

SmokedMeat

Gamer™
KtSlime said:
Many people see it as a festival. I had a copy ordered on Amazon, and went to my local Geo and waited in line and picked up another copy, just for the fun of it.
Click to expand...

Some "festival". Looks like a bunch of bored men waiting in a long line to get their game from a retailer.

I do wonder if Japanese gamers tend to prefer physical copies, and shy away from digital? For DQ I can get going physical, but those long Splatoon lines made no sense to me.
 
K

KtSlime

Member
ShinUltramanJ said:
Some "festival". Looks like a bunch of bored men waiting in a long line to get their game from a retailer.

I do wonder if Japanese gamers tend to prefer physical copies, and shy away from digital? For DQ I can get going physical, but those long Splatoon lines made no sense to me.
Click to expand...

There is no reason to wonder, it is fact. Japanese gamers prefer owning their games. And why wouldn't they, if they don't want the game anymore they could always sell it.

Festival wasn't my words, it's from an interview asking people why they lined up for DQXI
 
ethomaz

ethomaz

Banned
Owensboro said:
I heard they had to cancel school because so many kids were going to be skipping in order to play it!
Click to expand...
They changed to Saturday releases (no school day) decades ago... before SNES releases.

xyla said:
You're probably joking, but wasn't this a real thing once, around the PS1 or SNES era DQ? Or was that always a rumor?

Will be interesting to see the split for the game. Especially the hardware bump for PS4 and for 3DS with the 2DS XL just releasing.
Click to expand...

Owensboro said:
I always assumed it was an urban legend kids liked to tell each other during recess. At least, that's how I remember hearing it.

Edit: I probably need to be more absurd to hammer home it's a joke I guess. Rats.
Click to expand...
It was a thing at NES releases that forced the publishers to release at non school days... so DQ since SNES only launches on holidays and stores opens just for it.
 
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