In the lead-up to its global launch, Monster Hunter Wilds shattered pre-order records on both Steam and PlayStation, effortlessly following the path laid by its predecessors, 2022's Monster Hunter Rise and 2018's Monster Hunter: World. These monumental sales figures affirm Capcom's unique RPG series as one of the most significant video game franchises worldwide. However, this wasn't always the case. A decade ago, the notion of a Monster Hunter game achieving such global acclaim would have been unthinkable. When the series debuted in 2004, it garnered mixed reviews. It wasn't until its transition to the PSP in 2005 that Monster Hunter truly gained traction, albeit primarily in Japan.
For years, Monster Hunter epitomized the "bigger in Japan" phenomenon. The reasons were straightforward, as this narrative will elucidate, yet Capcom persistently sought ways to penetrate the international market. The success of Monster Hunter: World, Rise, and now Wilds validates their efforts. This is the story of how Monster Hunter evolved from a domestic hit to a global powerhouse.
Around the time of Street Fighter 5's launch in 2016, Capcom underwent an internal reorganization to prepare for a new generation of games. These games would utilize the company's new RE Engine, replacing the aging MT Framework. This shift was more than just a technological upgrade; it came with a mandate to create games for a global audience, not just for existing, territory-specific fans.
"It was a few factors that came together," says Hideaki Itsuno, a former game director at Capcom known for his work on Devil May Cry. "The change of the engine and also all teams were given a very clear goal at that point to make games that reach the global market. [Games] that are fun for everyone."
During the PS3 and Xbox 360 era, Capcom's games seemed to chase an imagined "Western games market." While Resident Evil 4 was a hit, spinoffs like Umbrella Corps and the Lost Planet series, which focused on guns and sci-fi, failed to capture the desired audience. Capcom realized the need to create universally appealing games, not just those tailored to Western genres.
"I think that we had that clear goal of just focusing and not holding anything back," Itsuno says. "Towards making good games that would reach people from all over the world."
Itsuno notes that the period leading up to 2017 was crucial. "The changes in organization and the changes in the engine, all these elements came together around that time," he says. The launch of Resident Evil 7 in 2017 marked the beginning of a Capcom renaissance.
No other series better exemplifies Capcom's new goal for global success than Monster Hunter. While it had a dedicated Western fanbase, the series was significantly more popular in Japan. This wasn't by design but due to real-world factors.
The transition from PlayStation 2 to the PSP with Monster Hunter Freedom Unite was a game-changer. Japan's robust handheld gaming market, bolstered by the success of the PSP, Nintendo's DS, and later the Switch, played a significant role. According to Ryozo Tsujimoto, the series' executive producer, the key to Monster Hunter's success in Japan was the country's advanced wireless internet network, which allowed players to easily connect and play with friends.
"20 years ago, Japan was in a very, very solid state in terms of the network environments available to people, and being able to connect and to play online together," Tsujimoto says. "And of course, we're not speaking for everyone there, because we realize that there are people who may not have had the chance to play with friends back then. But by moving over to handheld systems, we were able to grow that player base that was interacting and playing multiplayer together."
Monster Hunter, built on cooperative play, thrived on handheld consoles where friends could quickly join hunts. Japan's advanced internet infrastructure meant the game was initially developed for the local market, even if unintentionally.
This created a feedback loop where Monster Hunter became a best-seller in Japan, prompting Capcom to release Japan-only content and events, further solidifying its "Japan-only" image. Meanwhile, Western fans watched enviously as Japanese players enjoyed exclusive content. However, as Western internet infrastructure improved and online play became standard, Tsujimoto and his team saw an opportunity to launch a globally accessible Monster Hunter game.
In 2018, Monster Hunter: World was released on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, marking a significant shift for the franchise. It offered large-scale, AAA console-quality action with enhanced graphics, expansive areas, and larger monsters.
"Our approach to the globalization of the series and Monster Hunter in general really ties into not only the themes that we had going into designing the game, but also in the name of the game," Tsujimoto reveals. "The fact that we called it Monster Hunter: World is really kind of a nod to the fact that we wanted to appeal to this worldwide audience that we wanted to really dig into and experience Monster Hunter for the first time."
It was crucial that Monster Hunter: World did not favor one market over another. The game was released simultaneously worldwide, with no Japan-exclusive content, aligning with global standards.
Tsujimoto and his team conducted global focus tests to refine Monster Hunter's formula for broader appeal. "We did focus tests and user tests across the world, and some of the impact of those — the feedback and the opinions that we got during that really affected how we designed our game systems and really affected how much success we had as a global title for that game," Tsujimoto says.
One significant change was displaying damage numbers when players hit monsters, a small tweak that contributed to the series' unprecedented success. Previous Monster Hunter games sold between 1.3 to 5 million copies, but Monster Hunter: World and Rise each surpassed 20 million copies sold.
This growth was no accident. Rather than altering Monster Hunter to suit Western tastes, Tsujimoto and his team opened up the series' unique nature to a wider audience without compromising its essence. This approach continues with Monster Hunter Wilds.
"At its heart, Monster Hunter really is an action game, and that sense of accomplishment you get from really mastering that action is an important aspect of Monster Hunter," Tsujimoto explains. "But for newer players, it's really getting to that point. The steps involved in getting to that sense of accomplishment is really what we're trying to strategize for, in terms of designing for new players. So with World and Rise, for example, we were taking really great care to analyze where players got stuck, what was hard to understand, what they were having trouble with, getting player feedback, and also doing our own kind of research into that. And all of that kind of knowledge has impacted how we've implemented new systems into Wilds."
Within 35 minutes of its release, Monster Hunter Wilds reached 738,000 concurrent players on Steam, more than double Monster Hunter: World's all-time high. With glowing reviews and the promise of more content, Monster Hunter Wilds is poised to continue the series' mission to conquer the world.
