I’ve been told the story more than once, and always in the same way. Every time a Dragon Quest game is released, thousands of children will be caught playing truant, and as many grown workers will take a sick day, leading to a measurable drop in productivity across Japan. Don’t forget, there’s no such thing as mandated sick pay in Japan - people were losing money to pay money for a game, just to play it on launch day.
The story continues that this phenomenon became so predictable that the government was forced to step in. The “Dragon Quest Law” was passed - Enix’s games now had to avoid a weekday release and arrive on a Saturday instead. It’s a perfect encapsulation of how popular this series had become – a simple RPG turned legitimate cultural phenomenon.
Source : IGN.com
