The Monster Hunter series is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, and producer Ryozo Tsujimoto, along with director Kaname Fujioka, recently spoke with Famitsu magazine to look back at the past and what lies ahead for the future of the series.
During the interview, Tsujimoto talks about Capcom’s recent Monster Hunter 10th anniversary party, where he spoke to a member of the Japanese idol group Nogizaka46, who told him, “ten years ago, I was still in elementary school!” Tsujimoto says this made him realize just how much time has gone by, and how the fans have also grown with the series.
While reminiscing about the series’ past, Famitsu points out that it feels as if there’s been a new Monster Hunter game at least once a year for the past ten years.
“Actually, by last year we had already released ten titles. So that makes it ten in nine years,” Tsujimoto says with a laugh.
“We’re always pretty busy,” Fujioka chimes in. “We’re feeling something similar to the time of our fifth anniversary, where we can’t really imagine what’s in store for us from this point on.”
Famitsu remarks that, instead of a marathon’s pace for the past ten years, it’s almost as if the team has been running several short sprints over and over.
“And once we’ve finished running, it’s like we’re told ‘one more time!’” Fujioka jokes. “However, we’ve always had this fixation upon thinking of ways not to let players forget about the name ‘Monster Hunter’. In order to do this, we are required to continuously release games and offer new ideas.”
Fujioka continues, “I’ve realized that, games that ‘expand’ need all kinds of preparations, and it isn’t like [there is] a simple blueprint that ends with making a good game. When it comes to making games that have an ongoing relationship with players, there will always be more and more topics [to cover]. When you improve on those topics, there will always be more afterwards. And that will continue to repeat itself.”
Meanwhile, Tsujimoto says that the way people play Monster Hunter has also been expanding, with the “Time Attack” fights being an example. As previously reported, new arena battle features are being added in Monster Hunter 4. By watching how people play the game in such ways, it’s been made possible to add more to it, Tsujimoto says.
“Again, as long as there are those who’ve kept up with the series, there will always be those who are new to it, as well,” says Tsujimoto. “While we do our best to respond [to the players and their demands], it also feels as though players can naturally talk about the game amongst themselves, kind of like a network, with the players expanding.”
Since Monster Hunter is a “network game,” with different kinds of players, Tsujimoto feels that this means the team must also make it into something that offers all kinds of ways to play; otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to amass such a diverse audience. This is something they’ve been thinking about, and will continue to do in the future.
