Yuji Horii comments on Dragon Quest VII Reimagined coming before Dragon Quest IV, V, and VI remakes

Square Enix has found itself knee-deep in what has seemingly become a Dragon Quest series remake movement. After first releasing Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake last year, series fans won't have to wait long with Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake just around the corner, releasing next month.

The recent reveal of Dragon Quest VII Reimagined at the September 2025 Nintendo Direct may have raised questions about why the seventh entry would see the remake treatment before Dragon Quests IV, V, and VI. As it turns out, such a question did end up reaching series creator Yuji Horii in a Japanese livestream that he co-hosted.

This exchange appeared in a recent livestream on the "Yuubou & Mashirito no KosoKoso Housoukyoku" channel that went live on September 15. This channel is also where Yuji Horii and Kazuhiko "Mashirito" Torishima co-host monthly streams that began in early 2025.

Shortly after the 44:45 mark in this stream, Mashirito questions Yuji Horii about how it's "not 4-5-6 but 7", which also implies that he's wondering why Dragon Quest VII Reimagined came before potential remakes of Dragon Quest IV, V, and VI.

Horii-san responded to this, of which our translation is as follows:

Yuji Horii: "A lot of things are moving around, but it was just done first by chance."

And when Mashirito tried to comprehend this remark, he repeated the sentence but added "7". Mashirito said: "A lot of things are moving around, but VII was done first by chance."

Then at 45:20, Mashirito tried to imply that "It's like it does not mean that they are not doing 4-5-6". Horii tried to evade by saying "I didn't say it" three times.

Shortly afterward, there was this conversation between Yuji Horii and the hat-wearing MC Naz Chris:

Yuji Horii: "As I said just now, we want to make them playable on ongoing platforms."

Naz Chris: "Does that mean VII is simply progressing smoothly?"

Yuji Horii: "Well yeah, there was also a period for [its] development... and we do have a lot of progress."

Naz Chris: "Like, for example, IV had a lot of [story] chapter divisions, maybe that's why it could be taking more time?"

Yuji Horii: "Well, well..." *laughs*

The archived Japanese livestream in question is also available to watch right below. As a reminder, the above points would appear right after 44:45.

The HD-2D remake of Dragon Quest III was released before the upcoming remakes of Dragon Quest I & II; an intended cadence, as Dragon Quest III chronologically takes place before the first numbered entry. It's possible that since Dragon Quests IV, V, and VI are also loosely connected, perhaps remake efforts there are more time-consuming than expected, whereas Dragon Quest VII is a standalone entry.

In any case, Dragon Quest VII Reimagined is currently slated for a simultaneous worldwide release on Nintendo Switch 1 & 2, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam and Microsoft Store on February 5 next year.