Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World Release Date and Time, Editions, Price, Pre-Load and Demo

The Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World release date is Thursday 3 December 2026, on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch and PC through Steam. The Digital Deluxe Edition includes 48 hours of early access, from 1 December. Standard is $59.99 and Digital Deluxe $94.99 in every US store we checked, and a free demo is already out.

We do not sell the game itself, but you pay for it from your platform wallet. A Nintendo eShop $50 US card plus a $10 eShop card covers the Standard Edition on Switch 2 or Switch. On Xbox, an Xbox $100 US gift card covers the Digital Deluxe Edition. Below: unlock times, what each edition really adds, sizes, and which demo progress you keep.

On consoles it is a midnight local launch. Microsoft’s store data for the US lists the Standard Edition as available from 05:00 UTC on 3 December, which is midnight Eastern time. The UK store says 00:00 UTC, Germany 23:00 UTC on 2 December, Japan 15:00 UTC and Australia 13:00 UTC on 2 December: each one is midnight on 3 December in that country. The US PlayStation Store listing gives the same 05:00 UTC, and the UK, German and Australian PlayStation stores match their Xbox times exactly. The Digital Deluxe Edition’s early access follows the same pattern two days earlier.

Steam is the exception. Square Enix’s text on the Steam store page says “Early Access is planned to start on December 1st 2026 at 9.00am PST”, which is 17:00 UTC, so PC players in Europe get early access in the evening rather than at midnight. No Steam time has been given for the 3 December launch yet; when we opened the page on 1 November it said only that the game “plans to unlock in approximately 4 weeks”. Nintendo’s listings give the date (“Releases 12/3/26”) but no hour.

The Collector’s Edition is not a separate game version. The Square Enix Store describes it as the physical Standard Edition shipped with the merchandise, plus a code that upgrades you to the Digital Deluxe Edition. Its price range on that page runs from $59.99 (Standard) to $219.99. The platform picker there offers Switch 2, Switch and PS5, with no Xbox or PC option.

Both Nintendo listings carry the same warning: “There are no plans to sell an upgrade pack to upgrade the Nintendo Switch version to the Nintendo Switch 2 version”, and save data cannot be carried in either direction. If you own a Switch 2, buy the Switch 2 version. It is the same price, and you will not be able to move your monsters over later. The Switch version is for people still on the original console.

On Xbox, the Microsoft Store listing is tagged Xbox Play Anywhere and Optimized for Series X|S, so one purchase covers the console and Windows PC. The listing does not mention Game Pass. Steam lists Steam Cloud, Family Sharing and controller support. For how Family Sharing works, see our Steam Families guide.

The Switch 2 estimate is almost twice the Switch figure, so expect higher-resolution assets on the new console. Nintendo’s numbers are estimates and usually change a little at launch. To plan around a Switch 2 microSD Express card, our Switch 2 storage calculator adds up your library. For the Xbox and PC downloads, the game download time calculator tells you how long 38 GB takes on your connection.

Square Enix announced the free demo on 10 September 2026, and on 1 November we found it on Steam, the PlayStation Store and both Nintendo listings. Its demo announcement on Steam says it runs “from the start of the story up to the conclusion of events in Witherwood”. In the demo you can only befriend rank G and rank F monsters. You can bring part of that progress into the full game. This is how it works, per the announcement:

Pre-orders on all of these stores can be paid from your account balance, so a gift card in your account’s currency works. In our store, the Nintendo eShop $50 card plus a $10 card covers the $59.99 Standard Edition. On Xbox, the Xbox $50 US card plus an Xbox $10 card covers Standard. On Steam, the Steam $100 US card covers the $94.99 Digital Deluxe Edition. Redeeming is covered in our guides to Nintendo eShop cards, Xbox gift cards and Steam gift cards. PlayStation wallet cards are not on sale in our store at the moment.

We read every date, price and size on 1 November 2026, between 03:00 and 04:00 UTC. We pulled Steam’s store data for the US, UK, Germany, Canada and Australia, Microsoft’s catalogue for the US, UK, Germany, Canada, Japan and Australia, the PlayStation Store pages for the US, UK, Germany, Canada and Australia, and Nintendo’s US store pages and price API for the US and Canada. We opened the Steam and Nintendo pages in a browser for the screenshots and read Square Enix’s announcements through Steam’s news feed. We also searched our own catalogue to confirm we do not stock the game, and checked that every gift card linked above was in stock. We have not played the game or the demo.

• DRAGON QUEST MONSTERS: The Withered World on Steam (release date, regional prices, Advance Access, early-access time, bonuses, PC requirements, languages)
• “DEMO available now!” (Square Enix on Steam, 10 September 2026: demo scope and transfer rules)
• “Available for pre-purchase now!” (Square Enix on Steam, 9 June 2026: editions and bonuses)
• Microsoft Store: Standard Edition and Digital Deluxe Edition (release times by market, prices, package sizes, Play Anywhere)
• PlayStation Store listing (release time, prices, 48-Hour Early Access, online play notes)
• Nintendo Store: Switch 2 version and Switch version (prices, DLC, size estimates, upgrade and save notes, pre-load)
• Square Enix Store (Collector’s Edition contents, platforms and price)

How we write these guides: our editorial policy. We will update this page when the Steam unlock hour and the PS5 size are published, and again at launch with final sizes and reviews. Other Switch 2 launches this season: Metaphor: ReFantazio and Pikmin 4 Switch 2 Edition (both 12 November), and Monster Hunter Wilds (4 December).