In the lead-up to its global launch, Monster Hunter Wilds shattered pre-order records on both Steam and PlayStation, following in the footsteps of its highly successful predecessors, 2022's Monster Hunter Rise and 2018's Monster Hunter: World. This achievement solidifies Capcom's unique and esoteric RPG series as one of the world's biggest video game franchises.
However, the journey to global acclaim was not always so straightforward. Just a decade ago, the idea of a Monster Hunter game achieving such widespread popularity seemed unlikely. When the original game debuted in 2004, it received mixed reviews. It wasn't until the series transitioned to the PSP in 2005 that it truly gained traction, albeit primarily in Japan.
For many years, Monster Hunter was emblematic of a "game series bigger in Japan than the rest of the world." Despite this, Capcom persistently worked to expand Monster Hunter's international appeal. The success of Monster Hunter: World, Rise, and now Wilds validates these efforts.
This is the story of how Monster Hunter evolved from a domestic hit to a global phenomenon.
Monster Hunter Wilds is already proving to be immensely popular. | Image credit: Capcom
Around the time of Street Fighter 5's launch in 2016, Capcom underwent a significant 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 technological; it was accompanied by a mandate to develop games for a global audience rather than just 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 efforts to capture the Western market were evident in games like the action-heavy Resident Evil 4, which was successful, and the more gun-focused spinoffs like Umbrella Corps and the sci-fi shooter series Lost Planet. These attempts to chase Western gaming trends were largely unsuccessful. Capcom soon realized the need to create games that appealed universally, not just to fans of Western genres.
"All teams were given a very clear goal to make games that reach the global market," Itsuno emphasizes. "I think that we had that clear goal of just focusing and not holding anything back 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 series better exemplifies Capcom's new focus on global success than Monster Hunter. While it had dedicated fans in the West, the series was significantly more popular in Japan for decades. However, Monster Hunter was never intended to be exclusively popular in Japan; real-world factors contributed to this disparity.
Monster Hunter found great success when it moved from the PlayStation 2 to the PSP with Monster Hunter Freedom Unite. The handheld gaming market was much stronger in Japan than in the West, as demonstrated by the success of the PSP, Nintendo's DS, and later, the Switch. According to the series' executive producer Ryozo Tsujimoto, the key to Monster Hunter's success in Japan was the country's advanced wireless internet network, which enabled reliable multiplayer gaming with friends.
Monster Hunter Freedom Unite saw the series arrive on PSP, a pivotal moment for Japanese gamers. | Image credit: Capcom
"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 explains. "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's core pillar of cooperative play was best served by the ability for friends to quickly join hunts together, which handheld consoles facilitated. However, this focus on the local market inadvertently reinforced Monster Hunter as a "Japan-only" brand, with Japan-specific content and events.
Despite having a dedicated fanbase in the West, these fans often felt left out as Japanese players enjoyed exclusive content. As internet infrastructure improved globally and online play became standard, Tsujimoto and the team saw an opportunity to launch their most advanced and globally accessible Monster Hunter game yet.
Monster Hunter: World, released in 2018 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, marked a significant shift for the franchise. It was designed for large-scale, AAA console quality with enhanced graphics, larger areas, and bigger monsters, rather than being tailored for handheld consoles.
"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."
Monster Hunter: World was a turning point for the series, turning it into a true global phenomenon. | Image credit: Capcom
It was crucial for Monster Hunter: World to avoid any perception of favoring one market over another. The game was released simultaneously worldwide, with no Japan-exclusive content, aligning with global standards that players expect from modern titles.
Tsujimoto and his team went beyond simultaneous releases, conducting global focus tests and user tests to refine the game's 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 explains.
One significant change resulting from these tests was the inclusion of damage numbers when players hit monsters. These small adjustments to an already successful formula propelled Monster Hunter to unprecedented heights. While previous Monster Hunter games sold between 1.3 and 5 million copies, Monster Hunter: World and its 2022 follow-up, Monster Hunter Rise, both exceeded 20 million copies sold.
This growth was not accidental. Rather than altering the essence of Monster Hunter to cater to Western tastes, Tsujimoto and the team found ways to make the series' unique and complex nature more accessible to a broader audience without compromising its core identity. This approach continues with the latest game, 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 says. "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 promises of more content, Monster Hunter Wilds is poised to continue the series' mission to conquer the world.
