Monster Hunter is huge for Capcom. It’s always been huge for them in Japan (where it pretty much kept the PSP afloat singlehandedly), but with Monster Hunter World, the series hit the mainstream worldwide as well. But of course, with success comes the plain and simple fact that others will want to follow in your footsteps, and that’s always been a reality with Monster Hunter and, to put it crudely, its “clones”.
Dauntless launched recently and has been doing very well for itself, while even before Monster Hunter World, there was no shortage of games trying to imitate that experience. Capcom, however, are very pleased with the fact that that’s happening, and they see it as something to be happy and proud about, and take it as a sign that the series has “gone global”.
“I’m perfectly happy and proud to feel that if our game has gotten big enough that people are taking inspiration from it and making their own title,” Monster Hunter World executive director Kaname Fujioka said while speaking with Polygon. “I mean, we are creators and we are influenced by all the games we’ve played. It’s definitely not something I feel bad or angry about to see this kind of thing happening. It’s more proof that Monster Hunter World has gone global, since a game like Dauntless is a global game.”
Fujiojka also pointed out that even before World, when Monster Hunter was extremely successful in Japan, there were other games – like God Eater, for instance – that offered similar experiences as well.
“In the past when Monster Hunter got big on PSP in Japan for example, Monster Hunter-like games started cropping up on PSP in Japan, but maybe they weren’t as known in the West,” he said. “We’ve always had people take inspiration from us and use that as the basis for their own creations. I think that that’s continuing with Monster Hunter World era of the series.”
Monster Hunter World is available on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Its massive Iceborne expansion will be out in September for consoles, and in Winter on PC.