Square Enix Delists Original Dragon Quest 11

Square Enix has apparently delisted Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age from different platforms' respective shops. People can still play the game by purchasing the Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age – Definitive Edition, and those who owned the original version can of course still play it you already paid for it, but you won't find the original in different digital storefronts now. The move has reignited some frustrations about a lack of upgrade options for those who may have wanted to transition from the original game to the Definitive Edition.

People on Reddit (via Destructoid) noticed the absence of the game this week with the original version of Dragon Quest XI no longer available to purchase on Steam. While the same could be said for other platforms like the PlayStation Store which now only yields results for a demo for the game and the Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age – Definitive Edition listing, the Steam page now contains two different notices saying the original is no longer available and for people to consider the Definitive Edition.

"At the request of the publisher, Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age – Digital Edition of Light is unlisted on the Steam store and will not appear in search," the notice said.

Aside from the typical frustrations of digital products becoming unavailable to purchase at the whims of the publisher, a longstanding criticism of the medium, the delisting of Dragon Quest XI's original version is an even trickier one because of the differences between the versions. The Definitive Edition features different graphics as it was a port of the Nintendo Switch version of the game, and because of that, some people prefer the original release, not the newer one.

The content offered in that Definitive Version also may not be an incentive for people to pay the full $39.99 price for it whether they've experienced the original or not. Things are complicated further by the fact that there's no option to upgrade from one version to another, so if you are perhaps enticed by the content in the Definitive Edition and want to try it after beating the original, you have to purchase the game again.

Reviews in recent months praised the original game but criticized the lack of upgrade options. More recent reviews following the delisting consist of a flurry of negative reviews addressing the same topic.