Dragon Quest IX debuted with 2,338,221 copies sold, Dragon Quest VIII sold 2,267,827 copies at launch, and Dragon Quest VII moved 1,821,450 units.
While Dragon Quest VII was straight out beaten, there is still room for the game to beat both Dragon Quest IX and Dragon Quest VIII if digital downloads were strong.
Today Famitsu reported that Dragon Quest XI debuted with 2,080,806 copies sold in Japan in its first two days on the shelves, since the launch on July 29th, until the week ended on July 30th.
To be more specific the game sold 1,130,468 copies on 3DS and 950,338 copies on PS4.