This Week In Sales: Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate Week 2

Period: The week of October 13th – October 19th (2014)

Recommended Videos

Top-seller: Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate (3DS) – 327,212

Nintendo 3DS sales: 6,778 | Tot. sales: 9,640,150

Nintendo 3DS XL sales: 16,771 | Tot. sales: 6,672,801

New Nintendo 3DS sales: 29,341 | Tot. sales: 99,391

New Nintendo 3DS XL sales: 60,348 | Tot. sales: 225,104

PlayStation Vita sales: 8,761 | Tot. sales: 3,161,817

Vita TV sales: 630 | Tot. sales: 140,611

Wii U sales: 5,293 | Tot. sales: 1,959,644

PlayStation 4 sales: 8,046 | Tot. sales: 753,172

Xbox One sales: 728 | Tot. sales: 33,715

<< Last week’s software sales chart

<< How to read and understand sales

 

In its second week on store shelves, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate saw a 77% decrease from the week prior. In comparison, the original Monster Hunter 4 saw a 72% decrease from its first week to its second.

 

Selling 327,212 copies in week 2, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate has now sold 1.77 million copies at retail in total. That isn’t a bad figure by any stretch of the imagination. Capcom have already moved 2 million copies of Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate between retail shipments and download sales in Japan alone, and we’ll probably see additional shipments in the months to come.

 

That having been said, as mentioned in a previous report, the game probably won’t break the 2-million-sold mark at retail for another couple of weeks, and since it is an updated version of Monster Hunter 4 rather than an entirely new game, it will likely see a larger drop off from week-to-week than its predecessor as well, which will mean slower sales in general.

 

4 Ultimate is interesting because it’s the first time since 2008’s Monster Hunter Freedom Unite that a Monster Hunter game has seen an expanded version released on the same platform. While Monster Hunter Freedom 2 and Freedom Unite were both on the PSP, every expanded version of Monster Hunter since has been on a different platform than its predecessor, owing to market circumstances. For example; Monster Hunter Tri was on Wii, while Monster Hunter Portable 3rd—which built upon Tri and featured a different world with additional monsters—was on PSP. Meanwhile, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate—which was a direct update to Tri—was on Nintendo 3DS.

 

Compared to Freedom Unite, which is the closest comparison one could make in terms of platform environment, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate is clearly doing very well. Freedom Unite sold 880,468 copies at launch, and went on to move 3.7 million units worldwide over a period of several years. However, the series has grown since 2008, and 4 Ultimate is clearly benefitting from that growth. Capcom expect the game to move 3.9 million units worldwide by March 31st, 2015. That said, it won’t be outselling Monster Hunter 4 any time soon, and it appears Capcom were already aware of this fact during development. At the same time, it bears mentioning that 4 itself did not manage to outsell its predecessor, Monster Hunter Portable 3rd, which was released at a point where the series was something of a social phenomenon.

 

With in mind, it should be interesting to see just what the company has in mind for the inevitable Monster Hunter 5. We live in an age where smartphone gaming is cutting into the traditional portable games market more and more every year, and the games that are best equipped to remain relevant are the ones with strong social elements, such as Animal Crossing, Pokémon and Monster Hunter. When it does come, I suspect Monster Hunter 5 will need to do more in terms of social features and getting players talking, mingling and sharing with one another, both in person and online.

 

The top-20 software sales chart for last week is as follows:

 

Lw Tw Title Weekly Sales Total Sales Sys. Publisher
01. 01. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate 327,212 1,773,501 3DS Capcom
02. 02. Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS 53,075 1,610,904 3DS Nintendo
03. 03. Yo-kai Watch 2: Head/Founder 42,778 2,755,687 3DS Level 5
New 04. Chaos Rings III Prequel Trilogy 12,436 New PSV Square Enix
04. 05. Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix 11,215 117,309 PS3 Square Enix
06. 06. FIFA 15 4,462 20,612 PS3 Electronic Arts
New 07. Amnesia Later X Crowd V Edition 3,668 New PSV Idea Factory
16. 08. Mario Kart 8 3,625 690,387 WiiU Nintendo
10. 09. The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Flash II 3,309 106,214 PSV Falcom
15. 10. Dragon Quest X 3,303 108,599 3DS Square Enix
08. 11. Danganronpa: Another Episode 3,283 96,396 PSV Spike Chunsoft
05. 12. FIFA 15 3,038 19,757 PS4 Electronic Arts
09. 13. Nazo Toki Battle Tore! Densetsu no Makyuu wo Fukkatsu Saseyo! 2,936 15,782 3DS Bandai Namco
17. 14. Yo-kai Watch 2,934 1,287,733 3DS Level 5
14. 15. Destiny 2,858 94,324 PS3 Sony
21. 16. Animal Crossing: New Leaf 2,666 3,797,831 3DS Nintendo
11. 17. The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Flash II 2,631 82,104 PS3 Falcom
19. 18. Yoshi’s New Island 2,598 197,108 3DS Nintendo
23. 19. Toukiden Kiwami 2,158 143,048 PSV Koei Tecmo
29. 20. Pokémon X and Y 2,118 4,153,186 3DS Pokémon Co.

 

Sales data acquired from 4Gamer and Media Create.

related content
Read Article Life-Size Hoshimachi Suisei Figure Turned Into a 1/7 Scale Figure
Life-Size Hoshimachi Suisei Figure Turned Into a 1/7 Scale Figure
Read Article See How the Dragon Ball Z Vegeta Saiyan Battle Armor Costume Is Made
See How the Dragon Ball Z Vegeta Saiyan Battle Armor Costume Is Made
Read Article Cup Noodle to Release All-You-Can-Eat Mystery Meat Variey
Cup Noodle To Release All-You-Can-Eat Mystery Meat
Read Article Holo X Break Gets Release Date and New Trailer
Holo X Break Release Date
Read Article Streamer and Vtuber rpr Going on Indefinite Hiatus
Streamer and Vtuber rpr Going on Indefinite Hiatus
Related Content
Read Article Life-Size Hoshimachi Suisei Figure Turned Into a 1/7 Scale Figure
Life-Size Hoshimachi Suisei Figure Turned Into a 1/7 Scale Figure
Read Article See How the Dragon Ball Z Vegeta Saiyan Battle Armor Costume Is Made
See How the Dragon Ball Z Vegeta Saiyan Battle Armor Costume Is Made
Read Article Cup Noodle to Release All-You-Can-Eat Mystery Meat Variey
Cup Noodle To Release All-You-Can-Eat Mystery Meat
Read Article Holo X Break Gets Release Date and New Trailer
Holo X Break Release Date
Read Article Streamer and Vtuber rpr Going on Indefinite Hiatus
Streamer and Vtuber rpr Going on Indefinite Hiatus
Author
Ishaan Sahdev
Ishaan specializes in game design/sales analysis. He's the former managing editor of Siliconera and wrote the book "The Legend of Zelda - A Complete Development History". He also used to moonlight as a professional manga editor. These days, his day job has nothing to do with games, but the two inform each other nonetheless.