After Monster Hunter World catapulted the series into the mainstream, Wilds should have been an easy slam dunk. The game launched with a monstrous 10 million sales in its first month, yet momentum quickly slipped. Now, Capcom is openly pointing to the ‘PS5 barrier’ as one of the biggest obstacles keeping players from playing Monster Hunter Wilds.
In an interview with Nikkei Gaming back in May, President Haruhiro Tsujimoto said that Capcom is focusing to boost Wilds‘ initial sales. It does so by analysing Monster Hunter World‘s 28.5 million global sales. However, according to Tsujimoto, the high cost of PS5 is keeping younger players away.
“Monster Hunter World, which has been on the market for about seven years, is currently selling for $9.90. In comparison, Monster Hunter Wilds is priced at $70. How many users will buy it at that price range?” said Tsujimoto. “We also found that the ‘PS5 barrier’ is unexpectedly large. The console costs about 80,000 yen, and with software and subscriptions you’re looking at nearly 100,000 yen.” That’s roughly $670, if we convert it to today’s US Dollars.
“This is not an amount that can be easily reached, especially for younger generations. This situation is not limited to Japan, but is similar overseas as well,” Tsujimoto continued. He then explained that the company is looking to get ‘as many people as possible’ to play Monster Hunter Wilds. One of them being upcoming sales, which it eventually ran in June.
And the alternative? Nintendo’s shiny new hardware might just be the answer. “The Nintendo Switch 2 will be released in June 2025 at a price of 49,980 yen (tax included), and the response is better than we all had expected,” Tsujimoto admitted. It doesn’t take a genius to guess where new players will flock, when the PS5 now sits at $549.99 and the Pro ballooning to $749.99. Spending $449.99 for a Switch 2 to play the latest Monster Hunter is definitely a more appealing choice.
Nevertheless, the warning signs were already there. Wilds opened strong with 10 million sold in its first month, but momentum fell off a cliff. Three months after launch the game is only selling around 500,000 copies. On PC, from over 1 million concurrent players, the number has crashed to around 27,000. Capcom even admitted to investors that their games’ revenue ‘fell short,’ thanks to Monster Hunter Wilds underperforming.
Capcom hasn’t confirmed anything yet about Monster Hunter Wilds for Switch 2. After all, the company might be banking on Monster Hunter Stories 3 and the inevitable portable team’s entry to entice the Nintendo audience instead. Still, I think the writing’s on the wall. Just as Rise and Stories 2 boosted their lifetime sales with a PC port, Wilds may need a Switch 2 version to get its second wind. Otherwise, the PS5 barrier might be one wall Monster Hunter Wilds can’t bash through.
