Chief producer of the Dragon Quest series Ryutaro Ichimura has announced that he has left Square Enix. According to Ichimura’s announcement on Twitter, his last day of working with Square Enix was March 31, as translated by Gematsu.
According to Ichimura, long production cycles on games and his own age were factors in his departure. “I’ve started to count how many more games I’ll be able to make in my lifetime,” he said.
Ichimura hasn’t announced any new projects he’ll be working on with a new team, and has said that he would instead like to “reset and reflect”.
“I’d like to leave this blessed environment, and explore what can be made if I dare to push myself into a higher-risk environment,” said Ichimura.
The most recent release in the Dragon Quest franchise is Dragon Quest Treasures, which also got demo on the Nintendo Switch back in January. The game was released on the Nintendo Switch in December 2022, and features a main story that takes around 15-20 hours to complete.
The last major numbered game in the Dragon Quest franchise was Dragon Quest 11: Echoes of an Elusive Age, which saw number of different releases across various platforms. Dragon Quest 12: The Flames of Fate is also currently in development.