"Monster Hunter: Global Domination Unleashed"

In the leadup to its global launch, Monster Hunter Wilds shattered pre-order records on both Steam and PlayStation. This success continued the legacy of its predecessors, 2022's Monster Hunter Rise and 2018's Monster Hunter: World, solidifying Capcom's unique and esoteric RPG series as one of the world's premier video game franchises.

However, this wasn't always the case. Just a decade ago, the idea of a Monster Hunter game achieving such widespread global acclaim would have been unimaginable. Flash back to the series' debut in 2004, and it's even more surprising—the original game garnered mixed reviews. It wasn't until a year later, when Monster Hunter transitioned to the PSP, that the series truly took off, but primarily in Japan.

For a long time, Monster Hunter epitomized the "game series bigger in Japan than the rest of the world" phenomenon. The reasons were straightforward, as this article will explore, yet Capcom persistently sought ways to expand Monster Hunter's appeal internationally. The success of Monster Hunter: World, Rise, and now Wilds demonstrates that this effort paid off handsomely.

This is the story of how Monster Hunter transformed from a domestic hit into 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 run on the company’s brand-new RE Engine, replacing the aging MT Framework. But this change was more than just about technology; it also brought a new mandate to create games not just for existing, region-specific fans, but for a global audience.

“It was a combination of factors,” says Hideaki Itsuno, a former game director at Capcom known for his work on Devil May Cry. “The engine change and the clear goal given to all teams to create games that reach the global market. Games that are fun for everyone.”

Looking at Capcom’s releases during the PS3 and Xbox 360 era, it's clear the company was trying to capture the "Western games market." While the action-heavy Resident Evil 4 was a major hit, more gun-focused spinoffs like Umbrella Corps and the sci-fi shooter series Lost Planet failed to resonate. After several years, Capcom realized it needed to create games that appealed universally, not just to fans of traditional Western genres.

All teams were given a clear goal to make games that reach the global market.““I think that we had that clear goal of focusing and not holding anything back,” Itsuno says. “We were dedicated to 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 engine, all these elements came together around that time,” he says. The launch of Resident Evil 7 in 2017 sparked a Capcom renaissance.

No other series better represents this new company goal for global success than Monster Hunter. While it had its dedicated fans in the West, for decades, Monster Hunter was much more popular in Japan. The series was never intended to be exclusively popular in Japan, but real-world factors contributed to this disparity.

Firstly, Monster Hunter found significant success moving from PlayStation 2 to the PSP with Monster Hunter Freedom Unite. The handheld gaming market has always been stronger in Japan than in the West, as evidenced by the success of the PSP, Nintendo’s DS, and more recently, the Switch. The popularity of handhelds in Japan stems from various factors, but according to the series’ executive producer Ryozo Tsujimoto, the key was that Japanese gamers could reliably play with friends thanks to the nation’s advanced wireless internet network, which was years ahead of the United States at the time.

“20 years ago, Japan had a very solid network environment that allowed people to connect and play online together,” Tsujimoto says. “While not everyone could play with friends back then, moving to handheld systems helped us grow our player base for multiplayer interaction.”

Monster Hunter, built around cooperative play, thrived when friends could easily join hunts together. At the time, handheld consoles were the best platform for this, and Japan’s advanced internet infrastructure meant Monster Hunter was initially developed for the local market, even if unintentionally.

This created a feedback loop. Monster Hunter games became best-sellers primarily in Japan, prompting Capcom to release Japan-only content and host special events, further cementing Monster Hunter as a "Japan-only" brand.

Despite this, Monster Hunter had fans in the West who eagerly watched from afar as Japanese players enjoyed exclusive content. As the Western world improved its internet infrastructure and online play became standard for console gamers, Tsujimoto and his team saw an opportunity to launch their most advanced and globally accessible Monster Hunter game yet.

Released in 2018 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, Monster Hunter: World marked a significant shift for the franchise. Instead of being designed for handhelds, it offered large-scale, AAA console quality action with enhanced graphics, larger areas, and, of course, bigger monsters.

“Our approach to globalizing the series and Monster Hunter in general is tied to the themes we incorporated into the game's design, as well as its name,” Tsujimoto explains. “The name Monster Hunter: World is a nod to our desire to appeal to a worldwide audience and introduce them to 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, without any Japan-exclusive content, aligning with global standards that players expect from titles worldwide.

It wasn't just about simultaneous global releases; Tsujimoto and his team delved deeper to see how Monster Hunter's formula could be tweaked to appeal to players worldwide.

“We conducted focus tests and user tests globally, and the feedback we received significantly influenced our game systems' design, contributing to our success as a global title,” Tsujimoto says.

One key change resulting from these tests was displaying damage numbers when players hit monsters. These small tweaks to an already successful formula propelled Monster Hunter to unprecedented heights. While previous Monster Hunter games typically sold between 1.3 and 5 million copies, Monster Hunter: World and its 2022 follow-up, Monster Hunter Rise, both surpassed 20 million copies sold.

This growth was no accident. Instead of altering Monster Hunter's core to suit Western tastes, Tsujimoto and his team found ways to make the series' unique (and sometimes complex) nature more accessible to a broader audience without compromising its essence. This approach continues with the series' latest installment, Monster Hunter Wilds.

“At its core, Monster Hunter is an action game, and the sense of accomplishment from mastering that action is crucial,” Tsujimoto explains. “But for new players, reaching that point can be challenging. With World and Rise, we carefully analyzed where players got stuck, what was hard to understand, and what they struggled with, gathering player feedback and conducting our own research. All this knowledge has influenced the new systems we've implemented in 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. Given its glowing reviews and the promise of more content, it's highly likely that Monster Hunter Wilds will continue the series’ mission to conquer the world.