After having reached 12 million in worldwide shipments and digital sales, Monster Hunter: World has been an enormous success for Capcom. Company COO Haruhiro Tsujimoto recently spoke with Nikkei about the success of the game and how it changed their perception on the PC platform and Asia market. s—s
Nikkei: So let’s dive right in, what kind of year was 2018 for Capcom?
Haruhiro Tsujimoto, Capcom COO: “Firstly, the success of Monster Hunter: World was much higher than expected. It put up unprecedented numbers with shipments of over 11 million units by the end of 2018. While ‘surpassing 10 million’ is a big topic, it isn’t all about the numbers. It showed that Capcom’s digital strategy, which started with Resident Evil 7 biohazard that released in January 2017, has started functioning well.
Since Resident Evil 7, Capcom has been putting effort into collecting various data. We began collecting a lot of data, including the countries where the games are selling, not just words but also voices, what languages are being used, what kind of people are playing and such. Using this experience, from the pre-order stages of Monster Hunter: World we were able to make comparisons with Resident Evil 7 while considering future strategies.
What stood out in particular was Monster Hunter: World’s digital sales ratio, which was exceptionally high from the pre-order stage. The ratio was much higher than anything we’ve experienced in company history. From that point on, I felt that the data acquired from Monster Hunter: World would be extremely beneficial for us.”
We heard that the PC version of Monster Hunter: World was favorable.
Haruhiro Tsujimoto: “When it released for PC on August 10, 2018, it sold more than we expected. Up until now Capcom has been in the business as makers of console games, and PC versions were always secondary in terms of importance. However, after seeing the sales this time around, it made me think that we must change the way we recognize PC as a platform.
In the regions where Monster Hunter: World is available for PC, Asia is at the center as a new rising region for games. When looking at the sales of each country, it was clearly higher [on PC] compared to the console versions. They’ve always mostly had smartphones, but the next device used to play games is probably PC. PCs are versatile devices that can be used for work as well as studies. The popularity of eSports is there, and the PC gaming market is also active over there, so perhaps it comes from having such a background. So lately, whenever we go overseas and visit places such as Hong Kong, we make sure to take a peek at not only the game market but the PC market, too.
We’ve put more effort into approaching visitors from Asia at Tokyo Game Show, but based on how well Monster Hunter: World was accepted in those countries it is indication of how much it has grown into an extremely large market. We were able to bring change to the environment in which users enjoy their games, and we also acquired data. I believe that the successful experience from Monster Hunter: World will work effectively for policies moving forward.”
Monster Hunter: World is available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Its expansion, Monster Hunter World: Iceborne releases in Fall 2019.
