Before the arrival of the highly anticipated Monster Hunter Wilds, the franchise joins the pantheon of Capcom’s biggest successes by crossing a particularly symbolic threshold.
Capcom has in fact announced that the license in its broad sense has exceeded 100 million copies sold worldwide. It thus joins Resident Evil, another iconic series from the Japanese giant, which achieved this result in 2020. From a niche game in its beginnings, monster hunting has therefore officially become a worldwide cult. The future therefore looks bright for Monster Hunter Wilds.
The beautiful legacy of Monster Hunter Wilds
Monster Hunter debuted in March 2004 in Japan. It was then exported in September of the same year to the United States, and in May 2005 to Europe. The monster-hunting proposition has since built a small but loyal fan base, particularly with its episodes on handheld consoles. It will be necessary to wait until 2018 with the release of World, particularly on PC in August, for the franchise to experience meteoric growth.
Capcom indicated in a press release that Monster Hunter World alone represents a quarter of the more than 100 million copies sold to date. A consecration confirmed by the arrival of the very popular Iceborne extension in 2020. Rise, initially released on Switch in 2021, then subsequently ported to other supports, was not unworthy either. In fact, it represents, across all platforms, 15 million titles sold, including its very solid Sunbreak extension in the equation.
Capcom recognizes that the enormous success of the last two Monster Hunter games is mainly due to their multi-platform deployment. The observation was all the more telling when World arrived on PC, opening up monster hunting to a huge base of players who were not necessarily familiar with the franchise at the time. Better yet, World is today the Japanese giant’s absolute bestseller, followed by Rise and Resident Evil 2 Remake. Monster Hunter Wilds, expected in 2025 on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series, is therefore being monitored with particular attention, both by Capcom and by fans. Will he manage to do better than the monstrous World? Time will tell, with most likely a big presentation next month.