A lot has been said about Square Enix’s decision to bring Dragon Quest 11 to the west on the PS4 and PC, but not on the 3DS. The 3DS version of Dragon Quest 11 was special, made as a throwback to the classic games that made the franchise so big to begin with, with the top screen showing a 3D adventure, while the bottom one showed a top down sprite based one similar to the NES games.

Both the 3DS and PS4 versions have the exact same script, so localizing one would mean the other is already localized and good to go. So why was the 3DS version skipped? Square Enix said it was for business reasons, and now we have some insight into what those reasons might be.

Dragon Quest series executive producer Yuu Miyake recently said in an interview that the 3DS games were not all that popular in the west, suggesting that they didn’t perform to Square’s expectations outside of Japan.

“Dragon Quest X hasn’t released overseas. The 3DS games weren’t that popular overseas, and some folks jumped from Dragon Quest VIII all the way to Dragon Quest XI,” he said to GamesTalk. (translated by Siliconera).

The 3DS got re-releases of Dragon Quest 7 and 8, as well as a handful of spin-offs. The thing though is that Square didn’t localize them themselves, and they released years after they were already available in Japan, months before the launch of the Switch, so it does make sense why they didn’t do well.

It’s just a sad situation all around, in the end. Dragon Quest 11 is available now on PS4 and PC (and coming eventually to the Switch), and it’s a great game, so make sure to check it out if you haven’t had the chance to already. In related news, Square Enix recently said that if Dragon Quest XI doesn’t do well in the West, they might just stop localizing the series entirely. Read more on that through here.

Dragon Quest games have never been as big in the west as they are in Japan, but Dragon Quest 8 back on the PS2 managed to find the most mainstream success a game in the franchise has managed to gain outside of Japan on consoles since the original one was distributed for free with Nintendo Power back in the day. With the impending release of Dragon Quest 11 on the PS4 and PC next month, Square Enix have decided to tap into the nostalgia for the PS2 game.

Thus, they will be offering Dragon Quest 8 themed costumes for the game’s main character to all players for absolutely free. These costumes will be available in your inventory, and will give your character stat boosts that might be helpful in the early game.

And now, Square has released a brand new trailer showing off this costume in Dragon Quest 11, which is sure to tug at your heartstrings. The game launches on PS4 and PC next month.

Square Enix seemed to be teasing a Dragon Quest related announcement for this week but the news seems to have leaked early. Series creator Yuji Horii apparently revealed during the Japan Expo 2015 in Paris that Dragon Quest 7 and 8 would be releasing in French. This is according to Gematsu which reported several Twitter responses by those in attendance at the expo.

The announcement is significant because it means both Dragon Quest games will be heading to the 3DS internationally sometime in the near future. Both Dragon Quest titles were remade for the handheld, with Dragon Quest 7 released in 2013 and Dragon Quest 8 releasing this August for Japan.

Square Enix hasn’t officially announced anything thus far so there could still be something else planned. We’ll keep you in the loop regarding any updates so stay tuned in the coming days.

Are you excited at the possibility of both Dragon Quest titles heading West? Let us know in the comments below.