Monster Hunter Wilds Achieves Record-Best Physical Sales Debut for PS5 in Japan

Monster Hunter Wilds has had the biggest physical launch of any PS5 game released in Japan so far.

According to the latest sales figures from Japanese magazine Famitsu, Monster Hunter Wilds sold 601,179 physical copies in its first week – so not including digital and PC sales.

While this is higher than other physical sales of PS5 games in Japan, it’s lower than previous Monster Hunter games. However, as Monster Hunter Wilds sold 8m copies in its first three days to become Capcom’s fastest-selling game ever, these sales numbers suggest a big shift towards digital sales.

What’s more, the PS5 hardware itself sold 108,978 units across the base console, digital-only console, and PS5 Pro, with Monster Hunter Rise causing a significant boost in sales.

For comparison, on its Switch release in Japan Monster Hunter Rise sold over 1.30m physical units at launch, while Monster Hunter: World sold over 1.35m physical units on PS4 in its first three days of release in Japan (thanks Gematsu).

However, last year’s best-selling PS5 game was Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth with 358,353 lifetime sales, while in 2023 it was Final Fantasy 16 with 429,330 and in 2022 it was Gran Turismo 7 with 218,013.

As such, Monster Hunter Wilds has sold considerably more in just its first week, with these numbers once again proving the game’s rapid success.

At 8m copies sold worldwide, Monster Hunter Wilds has already bested the lifetime sales of Street Fighter 5, Street Fighter 2, and the original Resident Evil 2, as per Capcom’s Platinum Titles list. In fact it’s not far behind lifetime sales of Monster Hunter Rise DLC Sunbreak, which had sold 9.4m units by December last year.

What’s more, the game’s release in Japan has caused a surge in both PS5 rentals and sales of cheese naans.