Work has begun on the next entry in the Dragon Quest series, as Yuji Horii has confirmed on Twitter that the production of Dragon Quest XII started in 2019.
The Dragon Quest series has seen a rush of content over the past year, with everything from new games, ports, and crossovers happening over the bulk of 2019. Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age - Definitive Edition was released for the Nintendo Switch, Dragon Quest Walk was released for mobile phones, Hero was announced for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Dragon Quest: Your Story hit theaters in Japan, and Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai is receiving a new anime and video game adaptation. Dai also appeared in Jump Force as a playable character.
Yuji Horii is the creator of the Dragon Quest series and he has been the main driving force behind the franchise for over thirty years. It seems that Horii won't be retiring just yet, as he mentioned the busy 2019 schedule in a series of tweets and how he will be working on Dragon Quest games for a little longer. According to Japanese Nintendo, Horii also mentioned that production started on Dragon Quest XII in 2019, though fans shouldn't expect it for a while.
Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age entered development in 2013 and was released in Japan in 2017, with the international release coming in 2018. This means that Dragon Quest XII likely won't be released for several years and might be the final entry in the series that Yuji Horii works on before his retirement. Horii and several members of the Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies team discussed the possibility of that game being remade for modern systems, but Square Enix could hand that off to another studio with Horii only having a minimal role in development, as much of the work on the game has already been done.
The success of Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age - Definitive Edition around the world has breathed new life into the series, but it remains to be seen whether it can keep up the momentum. There are a ton of Dragon Quest ports and spinoffs that could be released in the meantime to fill the gap before the release of Dragon Quest XII in order to keep the international audience interested in the series over the next few years.
Source: Japanese Nintendo, Yuji Horii/Twitter