Monster Hunter Wilds producer Ryozo Tsujimoto believes that the immense success of the latest title in the Monster Hunter franchise can be owed to its more story-centric approach. Speaking to Japanese publication Nikkei (via Automaton), Tsujimoto lists the story, along with cross-play multiplayer and voice acting led to the success of Wilds.
For some context on the success of Monster Hunter Wilds, Capcom revealed last week that more than 8 million copies of the game were sold over its launch weekend. This meant that, along with outpacing the sales for Monster Hunter Rise, which sold 4 million copies in a similar time frame, and Monster Hunter World, which sold 5 million, Wilds is also the fastest selling game in Capcom history.
Even more localised sales figures for Monster Hunter Wilds have been impressive. Since its release, the title has topped Famitsu’s weekly physical sales charts, selling more than 601,000 physical copies in the country. Owing to the Japanese audience’s preference for PC and PS5 as their gaming platforms of choice, it is likely that a majority of those physical copies sold were for the PS5 version.
The PC version of Monster Hunter Wilds has also been quite successful, with the game hitting a concurrent peak of almost 1.4 million back when it came out. This has made Monster Hunter Wilds rank as the fifth-most played game in terms of peak concurrent players, behind titles like PUBG: Battlegrounds, Black Myth: Wukong, and Palworld.
As for its main story, Capcom had begun emphasising the storyline of Monster Hunter since the release of World. That title also featured a full-on campaign where players explored a new continent in search of answers for why a mysterious phenomenon dubbed the Elder Crossing happens. World‘s Iceborne expansion doubled-down on the story, providing more personal stakes for characters like the Handler.
Monster Hunter Wilds goes even further with its story, presenting a full narrative with character arcs. As Wilds begins, players take on the role of a Hunter that has to help a child named Nata find his home by traversing through a previously-unexplored territory dubbed the Forbidden Lands.
The title introduces a host of new monsters to the already-eclectic roster that the franchise is famous for. Alongside returning monsters like the Nerscylla and series mascots Rathian and Rathalos, we also get to take on new monsters like Rey Dau, Uth Duna, Nur Udra and Jin Dahaad.
There will also be more monsters added to the game with future updates. The first free Title Update has been confirmed for release in April, and will bring Mizutsune to the game’s roster of monsters. The update will also bring with it much-requested features, including a returning multiplayer Gathering Hub where players can hang out between hunts.
More recently, Capcom has also been releasing smaller patches for Monster Hunter Wilds that fix various technical issues that players might be facing.
Monster Hunter Wilds is available on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. For more details, check out our review. And here is why we believe Monster Hunter Wilds has been a runaway success.
