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Capcom says Monster Hunter Wilds sold more than eight million copies in its first three days of release, making it the fastest game in Capcom history to reach that oddly specific milestone.
Credit for the big number, according to Capcom, goes to Capcom’s “continuous global initiatives” to promote the game, including online showcases and an open beta, which “promoted the appeal of Monster Hunter Wilds to a broad audience worldwide.” And sure, a PR campaign—which, corporate hype aside, is exactly what Capcom is describing here—can certainly help draw eyes to a game, but I think it’s also only reasonable to acknowledge that Monster Hunter is a very big, mainstream game series these days. Monster Hunter: World, after all, made a big splash in its own right—five million copies in three days—when it debuted in 2018.
“The first Monster Hunter just didn’t click with the masses, and the next couple of expansions and sequels would stay in Japan,” veteran hunter of monsters James Mielke wrote in a 2018 look back at how the series grew from niche import to international sensation. “It wasn’t until Monster Hunter Freedom 2 that we’d get another taste.
“Fifteen years later, it’s almost inconceivable Monster Hunter was ever small time. How did it become such a juggernaut in Japan, and after a lifetime mostly stuck on handhelds like the PSP and 3DS, ship more than five million copies on consoles with Monster Hunter World in just three days?”
So, big game is big, yes, but what makes this level of success even more notable is that Monster Hunter Wilds has achieved it almost in spite of itself. The concurrent player numbers on Steam alone are enviable—a peak of almost 1.2 million today—but the overall user rating is decidedly not: Just 58% of the 68,000 user review are positive, thanks to significant, persistent performance issues including crashes, stuttering, framerate dips, and poor optimization overall.
Bottom line? Monster Hunter Wilds is a monster hit—and given what a mess it seems to be right now, that’s kind of wild.
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Kurt Indovina
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