The creator of the Dragon Quest series, Yuji Horii, hopes to use advances in AI to boost the camaraderie between players and their in-game companions.
As reported by Toyo Keizai, and spotted by Automaton, Horii spoke about the tech at the Google Cloud Next 2026 conference, calling AI “not just a convenient tool, but a friend to each individual player”.
“When I first created Dragon Quest, I wanted the townspeople’s dialogue to sound as much like real human speech as possible,” Horii said. “Now, AI can actually respond, so I think we can make them feel even more human. However, simply replacing townspeople with AI wouldn’t be fun.”
He added that while players may feel a little foolish speaking to AI chatbots as real friends, “if it’s a game character, the barrier is lower, and people may find it easier to talk to about various topics”.
Talking specifically about Square Enix’s recent partnership with Google to develop Oshaberi Slimey (Chatty Slimey), a Gemini-powered AI chatbot that will be integrated into Dragon Quest X, Horii stressed that he not only wanted to see these kinds of AI companions be included in Dragon Quest games, but in other series, too.
“I think it’s wonderful that [Slimey] can also listen to people’s concerns with empathy and even talk about things unrelated to the game itself,” he added. “I’d like to explore ways for AI characters to accompany players as supporting companions while they play, which could then expand into other series too.
“AI characters could become an entry point that teaches beginners how to play, and even after leaving the game, players might come to consider them as friends.”
As for the long-teased Dragon Quest 12? It’s been five years since Square Enix first announced the game, and we’ve heard precious little about the title ever since, but Horii has confirmed that the game is still in development.
A classification for a potential Nintendo Switch 2 version of Dragon Quest 11 S recently surfaced in Taiwan. The listing appeared on 29th April.