Dragon Quest X week 1 sales: 420,000

The results are in for Japanese game sales last week, and the numbers are rather telling for the new entry in Square Enix's flagship franchise.  Dragon Quest X: Rise of the Five Tribes Online debutted at a mere 420,311 units.  While not bad by any means, it is quite a far cry from other opening weeks for the series such as Dragon Quest IX's 2,353,440 or Dragon Quest VIII's 2,237,000.  Those were also released on Saturdays, meaning they were only tracked for 2 days, half the time of Dragon Quest X's.

History has shown MMORPGs for Square Enix's franchises will have lower install bases even among mainline games, so these numbers may not be as surprising as they initially seem.  It is also worth noting Final Fantasy XI was the most profitable game in the company's history, so subscription fees and expansions will very likely more than make up for the lost numbers, and that isn't even taking into account the upcoming Wii U version.  How this influences the franchise going forward remains to be seen.