Dragon Quest series creator Yuji Horii is 70 years old, but has no plans to retire yet 

Yuji Horii, the man who created the Dragon Quest series and defined the VN/text adventure genre with The Portopia Serial Murder Case, turned 70 this year. Horii’s age is often brought up as a point of concern among Dragon Quest fans who don’t want to see the creator retire and stop making games. In a recent interview with The Sankei Shimbun, Horii addressed this topic. 

When asked if he has a specific retirement age in mind, the prolific game designer says, “I’m not planning anything. It would be sad to just quit everything, so I want to keep working for as long as I’m able.” On the other hand, Horii comments that he is currently delegating tasks to others “little by little” while working on things personally as much as possible. This suggests that, while not keen on retiring any time soon, the creator is conscious of handing down his craft to younger people. 

At the moment, Horii is working on Dragon Quest XII: The Flames of Fate, the latest main entry to the series. He says his current goal is to complete the game, but that any further comments about it will “get him in trouble.” The creator is also involved in the development of Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake and mobile titles, and is even entertaining the possibility of working on a brand-new adventure game in the future.