Square Enix Promises To Deliver New Turn-Based RPGs In The Future
Square Enix, the video game developer of classic turn-based franchises such as Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy, promised to deliver new turn-based RPGs in the future.
This promise came after a Square Enix investor addressed company executives during the company’s Annual Shareholders’ Meeting. In a post to X this investor shared, “I had the opportunity to speak, so I expressed the opinion that I would like new releases of Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy to alternate. The reason is that I agree with the shift from quantity to quality in the medium-term business plan.”
He added, “I mentioned that prolonged development makes it difficult to attract fans, and if development costs become too heavy due to extended timelines, even new Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy titles may fail to generate profits. Therefore, a balance between quality and quantity is essential.
“Above all, I emphasized the need to release the flagship titles, Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy, every year,” he shared. “Additionally, I expressed the desire for new Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy titles to be turn-based RPGs, explaining this by referencing the shift in direction from FF16 and the success of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, which gained attention in 2025.”
As for Square Enix’s response, he relayed, “The response was that the next three years of the medium-term plan will focus on delivering truly interesting games to users. However, beyond that, they plan to deliver many titles, including mid-tier ones, and are preparing for this, so they asked us to wait for announcements.”
“Regarding command-based RPGs, they are aware of Expedition 33 and consider turn-based RPGs to be Square Enix’s origin and foundation. They value the turn-based RPG genre and plan to continue delivering games in this style in the future,” he concluded.
To be clear, Square Enix has not stopped making turn-based RPGs. They’ve just primarily abandoned it with their Final Fantasy franchise favoring a more action-oriented combat system.
The company recently announced a remaster of its classic Final Fantasy Tactics - The Ivalice Chronicles, which will arrive in September. It is also releasing Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake in October. This comes following the release of Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake in November 2024.
In December, it also released Fantasian Neo Dimension, which features turn-based combat. Other recent turn-based releases include Octopath Traveler II, which arrived in February 2023, Bravely Default II, which released in 2021, Triangle Strategy in 2022, and Tactics Ogre: Reborn, which also arrived in 2022. Additionally, the most recent mainline Dragon Quest game released in 2017 and it was most definitely turn-based.
So that begs the question on if Square Enix will return to its turn-based roots for a mainline Final Fantasy title or if it will continue to pursue more action-based combat with that franchise.
What do you make of Square Enix’s promise to make more turn-based RPGs?
NEXT: Rumor: Xbox To Enact "Substantial Cuts" To Staff In New Round Of Layoffs
They saw the success of Expedition 33 and want some of it. Unfortunately all of Square's games go through their SJW Ethics department, so regardless of the genre, you'll get propaganda.
Did the guy say “annualized FF and DQ?” Can nothing be special anymore? Does everything have to be a constant slop drip?