Dragon Quest XII has been renamed from The Flames of Fate to Beyond Dreams The development team restarted the entire project from scratch after encountering major hurdles which means the game will be delayed even further. The update was announced during the Dragon Quest Team stream

The reveal of the new Dragon Quest XII protagonist has sparked backlash from some fans, with many criticizing the character’s appearance and describing him as looking “ugly”, “tired,” “sleep-deprived,” or “unappealing.” Following the backlash over the character being ugly, the developers had to confirm that the protagonist was designed by Akira Toriyama, the legendary artist who created character designs for the Dragon Quest series for decades.

Square Enix is developing a new framework to accelerate releases for its major game IPs, including Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. In its latest medium-term business plan, the company reported steady progress toward a system enabling more regular new title launches for key franchises. So this “framework” is a core piece of their “Square Enix Reboots and Awakens” strategy: >Reorganizing studios (Japan and overseas) for better pipeline management, talent mobility, and resource concentration. >Shifting from “quantity to quality” they’ve reviewed all projects, discontinued some, and poured more resources into the strongest ones. >Multi-platform push, expanding to PC, new consoles like Switch 2, China, etc., to maximize IP value faster. >Efficiency tools, including AI R&D for development processes The plan is to avoid long waits between major new releases. Fans will get new games on a more regular schedule after the current three-year plan.