How Monster Hunter takes over the world

Monster Hunter Wilds broke booking records on both Steam and Playstation under its global launch. It effortlessly follows its very popular predecessor, Monster Hunter Rise in 2022 and Monster Hunter: World 2018, realizing sales that really cements Capcom's unique and esoteric RPG series, one of the largest video game series in the world.

But that's not always the case. Less than a decade ago, the idea of ​​a monster hunter game gaining such a great popularity around the world seemed strange. Back to the clock further away, back to Monster Hunter's debut in 2004, it seemed even more far-fetched: the original game encountered mixed reviews. It wasn't until a year later that Monster Hunter jumped to PSP that really blows up… in Japan.

that's right. Monster Hunter has been the poster kid for “Japan's bigger game series than the rest of the world” for a long time. As this story explains, the reason for this is simple, but that doesn't stop Capcom from trying to figure out how to break Monster Hunter into the international market. And, with the rise of Monster Hunters World, now Wilds proves that, it's worth it.

That's how Monster Hunter strikes from domestic to global forces.

When Street Fighter 5 was launched in 2016, Capcom underwent an internal restructuring to prepare for a new generation of games. The games will run on the company's brand new RE Engine, a replacement for Capcom's aging MT framework. But this change is more than just a tool. With the engine upgrade, there is a new mission to ensure that Capcom’s game is not only aimed at existing field-specific fans, but also targets audiences around the world.

“It’s a few factors together,” said Hideaki Isuno, former gaming director at Capcom, known for Devil May’s crying. “The engine changes and all teams have a very clear goal at this point to bring the game to the global market. (The game) is fun for everyone.”

If you look at almost all of the games CAPCOM has released during PS3 and Xbox 360 ERA, you will feel the company is going all out to try to capture the imaginary version of “Western Games Market.” Real Action Crisis 4 is a big blow, yes. But more gun-enhancing spin-offs (such as the Umbrella Legion) and the science fiction shooter Lost Planet are clearly chasing the trend of Western gaming in the late 2000s. A few years later, Capcom realized the need to create games that appeal to everyone, not just fans of traditional Western genres.

“I think we have a clear goal of just focusing on it without stopping anything,” Itsuno said. “To make great games to attract people from all over the world.”

Itsuno points out that the time by 2017 is crucial. “The change in organization and the change in engines, all of these elements came together around that time,” he said. When Resident Evil 7 was launched, it began the Capcom revival.

No other series embodies this new global success goal better than Monster Hunter. While it has a stubborn fan in the West, Monster Hunter has had a much larger fan base in Japan than in the rest of the world for decades. The series was never considered to be something big in Japan, but the actual factors about why this happens.

First, Monster Hunter and Monster Hunter Freedom united to discover the great success of moving from PlayStation 2 to PSP. In Japan, the handheld gaming market has been much stronger than the West, not only is it a success for PSP, but also Nintendo's DS and more recently converted. According to Ryozo Tsujimoto, executive producer of the series, the popularity of Japanese handheld computers in Japan stems from many factors, but for Monster Hunter, what really works for Monster Hunter is that Japanese gamers can play reliably with their friends due to the country's highly developed wireless network. Everything that was available in the United States at the time was several years ahead of schedule.

“Twenty years ago, Japan was in a very, very stable state in terms of the network environments that people were available, and was able to connect and play online,” Tsujimoto said. “Of course, we were not talking to everyone there because we realized that some people might not have the chance to play with friends at the time. But by moving to the handheld system, we were able to grow that player group that was interacting and playing multiplayer.”

Monster Hunter, built on the core pillar of the co-op game, recognizes that it is best to offer this aspect when friends can quickly hunt together. There was no better way than a handheld console at the time. Thanks to Japan's advanced internet, this means Monster Hunter is first developed for the local market, even if it's not a deliberate approach.

This creates a loop. Monster Hunter Games will become a bestseller in Japan, and in order to keep pace with the audience, Capcom will release Japanese-only content and hold special events in Japan-only, further strengthening Monster Hunter as a “Japanese-only” brand.

But the reality is that Monster Hunter does have fans in the West, and when Japanese players get exclusive pairings and missions, they look at them from the outside. But as the Western world improves its internet infrastructure and online gaming, Tsujimoto is actually mandatory for most console gamers, and the team sees the opportunity to launch their most advanced, most globally accessible Monster Hunter game to date.

Monster Hunter: World was released on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC in 2018, which is a huge change for the team. Instead of being replaced with a small, less capable handheld console, it offers massive AAA console quality action with graphics, larger areas and of course larger monsters.

“Our approach to globalization of the series and the globalization of Monster Hunter is actually linked not only to the themes we designed the game, but also in the name of the game,” Tsujimoto revealed. “The fact that we call it Monster Hunter: the world is indeed a homage to the fact that we want to attract this global audience, and we want to be the first time we really dig and experience Monster Hunter.”

Monster Hunter: World doesn't make any impression that Capcom prioritizes one market over another, which is also crucial. Monster Hunter: The world will be released at the same time and will not lock in exclusive content in Japan, Tsujimoto said: “As it readjusted itself to the global standards that people expect from titles around the world.”

It's not just ensuring other regions get Monster Hunter: the world at the same time as Japan (although it does help). Tsujimoto and Co. Drill deep to see Monster Hunter’s formula can be adjusted to expand its appeal to players from around the world.

“We do focus our testing and user testing around the world, and some of the impacts of these impacts – the feedback and opinions we get in the process really affect the way we design our game systems and really impact our success as the global title for that game,” Tsujimoto said.

One important change from these game tests is that when the player hits a monster, it only shows the damage numbers. Some of the few tweaks here and there are already successful recipes that push Monster Hunter to the maximum height it reaches. Previous Monster Hunter Games usually sold about 13 to 5 million copies, excluding reissues and special editions. Monster Hunter: World and its 2022 follow-up, Monster Hunter Rise, have recorded sales of more than 20 million copies.

This kind of explosion in player growth did not happen by chance. Rather than changing the spirit of Monster Hunter to fit Western flavors, Tsujimoto and the team found ways to open up the series’ unique (and certainly blunt) nature to a wider audience without making sacrifices. The latest game in the series, Monster Hunter Wilds, continues this approach.

“In essence, Monster Hunter is really an action game, and the sense of accomplishment you really master the action is an important aspect of Monster Hunter,” Tsujimoto explained. “But for newer players, that does reach that point. The steps to achieve this sense of accomplishment are actually what we are trying to develop a strategy when it comes to designing for new players. So, for example, with the world and the rise, we've been very careful to analyze where players are stuck, what is hard to understand, the troubles they have, getting feedback from players, and doing our own research on it. All this knowledge has affected how we implement new systems into the wilderness.”

Within 35 minutes of release, Monster Hunter Wilds hit 738,000 players on SteamThis is the number of Double Monster Hunter: the highest in the world's history. As a result, Capcom's latest hunt may quickly surpass the world, and Rise's sublime achievements will likely quickly surpass the world. Thanks to a series of glowing comments and hope for more, Monster Hunter Wilds seems to continue the mission of the series to take over the world.

This article is an excerpt from the upcoming IGN story that explores how Capcom turns around after a series of failures and failures. Discover the entire story of Capcom falling and rising, only on IGN.

Matt Kim is an advanced feature editor for IGN.