While Square Enix president Youichi Wada has repeatedly stated his company's intention to bring Dragon Quest VIII: Sora to Umi to Norowareshi Himegimi to the US, the Los Angeles, California-based North American subsidiary of Square Enix had not made an announcement so far. This week however, the company added Dragon Quest VIII to its list of upcoming releases. Unlike its predecessors, the series' eighth installment will not undergo a title change for its North American release. The official website lists it as Dragon Quest VIII, instead of Dragon Warrior VIII. The last installment to make its way across the Pacific was Dragon Quest VII for PlayStation One in 2001. The game was published by Seattle, Washington-based Enix America prior to the merger with Square.

While Dragon Quest VII has sold 4.12 million copies in Japan and Dragon Quest VIII has already become the best selling title of its generation with sales exceeding three million copies, the series never enjoyed a comparable level of popularity outside Japan. With Dragon Quest VIII, Square Enix hopes to change this situation.

The US version of Dragon Quest VIII has yet to receive an official release date.