Dragon Quest X has 400k paying players, 700k shipped

Square Enix's Dragon Quest X has over 400,000 paying players within months of its release according to Japanese gaming magazine V Jump.

V Jump revealed the news via Twitter, but didn't say if this number consisted of currently active players or just the total number of accounts that have paid. Dragon Quest X has shipped in the region of 700,000 copies since its launch in August as a rather strange release - a Wii-exclusive MMO.

A Western release remains a large, unannounced question mark, while a Wii U version is also in development for Japanese markets. That version will be improved, and so will likely give numbers a significant boost.

For a comparison, Final Fantasy XI's original PS2 and Japan-only release only netted 100,000 subscribers in its first three months. Dragon Quest is quite the behemoth in the Japanese market. The game employing a system where players can enjoy some play time for free may have also helped some players get bitten by the bug.

We've got a bunch of screenshots and artwork of the game over in the Media Vault, so be sure to check them out. [via NeoGAF]