We all know how big of a success Monster Hunter: World ended up being on a global scale for Capcom, with its recent milestone of 8.3 million units in worldwide shipments and digital sales for example, but before it all started it was a big risk the company faced in order to expand the franchise in the West.
In an interview with Gamesindustry, Capcom Europe’s COO Stuart Turner looked back at the dilemma the company faced early on:
“In my 12 years of being here, the drum has been banged that Monster Hunter could sell easily in the West if it was on the right platform and if it embraced online gaming. “It was a big risk for the Japanese developers to go and do something that might cut off their own fanbase. They were guaranteed three or four million sales in Japan. For a risk-averse Japanese company, that’s a great big gamble. Having said that, Japan bought the game in its millions.”
EMEA marketing director Antoine Molant talked about the help they got from Sony:
“The risk was mitigated by Sony’s support, and Sony Japan in particular, who felt Monster Hunter coming to home consoles was going to sell some PS4s… and they were right.”
“The Japanese market is very interesting. They have a massive Monster Hunter tournament in Japan, which is time-attack based. You wouldn’t expect Monster Hunter to be an esports-type thing, but in Japan they’ve embraced this. So there are still these huge differences, even though it’s a game that’s popular in both markets now. What we’re seeing in Europe is that the co-op play is a much more powerful thing, as opposed to the competitive side, which has really come out in Asia.”
Turned talked about the difference in marketing Monster Hunter in Japan and in the West:
“It was almost a new IP in some markets. Even in some of our more mature European markets, it is still fairly unknown. It has obviously done really well and now the goal is to push on and make it more of a success in the West with the next iterations.”
Monster Hunter: World is available on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. In case you missed it, the Arch-Tempered Teostra will be heading to Monster Hunter: World from August 10-23, 2018 followed by the Arch-Tempered Kushala Daora in September 2018.
