In the lead-up to its global launch, Monster Hunter Wilds shattered pre-order records on both Steam and PlayStation, following in the footsteps of its highly successful predecessors, 2022's Monster Hunter Rise and 2018's Monster Hunter: World. These sales figures solidify Capcom's unique and esoteric RPG series as one of the world's biggest video game franchises.

However, this wasn't always the case. Just a decade ago, the notion of a Monster Hunter game achieving such global acclaim would have seemed improbable. When the series debuted in 2004, it received mixed reviews. It wasn't until a year later, with the release of Monster Hunter on the PSP, that the series gained significant traction, primarily in Japan.

For a long time, Monster Hunter epitomized the "game series bigger in Japan than the rest of the world" phenomenon. Capcom's efforts to break into the international market have proven fruitful with the success of Monster Hunter: World, Rise, and now Wilds.

This is the story of how Monster Hunter transitioned from a domestic hit to a global powerhouse.

Around the time of Street Fighter 5's launch in 2016, Capcom underwent an internal reorganization to prepare for a new generation of games. These games would run on the company's new RE Engine, replacing the aging MT Framework. This change was about more than just tools; it included a new mandate to create games for a global audience, not just territory-specific fans.

"It was a few factors that came together," says Hideaki Itsuno, a former game director at Capcom known for his work on Devil May Cry. "The change of the engine and also all teams were given a very clear goal at that point to make games that reach the global market. [Games] that are fun for everyone."

During the PS3 and Xbox 360 era, Capcom seemed focused on capturing the "Western games market." While Resident Evil 4 was a success, other attempts like Umbrella Corps and the Lost Planet series, which chased Western trends, were less successful. Capcom realized the need to create games appealing to everyone, not just fans of traditional Western genres.

"I think that we had that clear goal of just focusing and not holding anything back," Itsuno says. "Towards making good games that would reach people from all over the world."

Itsuno highlights that the period leading up to 2017 was crucial. "The changes in organization and the changes in the engine, all these elements came together around that time," he says. The launch of Resident Evil 7 that year sparked a Capcom renaissance.

No other series better embodies this new company goal for global success than Monster Hunter. While it had dedicated fans in the West, it was much more popular in Japan. The series' initial focus on Japan was due to real-world factors.

Monster Hunter found significant success moving from PlayStation 2 to the PSP with Monster Hunter Freedom Unite. The handheld gaming market has always been stronger in Japan, as evidenced by the success of the PSP, Nintendo's DS, and later the Switch. The popularity of handhelds in Japan, bolstered by the country's advanced wireless internet network, allowed Japanese gamers to play with friends easily, a core pillar of Monster Hunter's cooperative gameplay.

"20 years ago, Japan was in a very solid state in terms of the network environments available to people, and being able to connect and to play online together," says Ryozo Tsujimoto, the series' executive producer. "By moving over to handheld systems, we were able to grow that player base that was interacting and playing multiplayer together."

This focus on the Japanese market created a feedback loop, with Monster Hunter becoming a best-seller primarily in Japan, leading to Japan-only content and events, further reinforcing its regional brand.

Despite this, Monster Hunter had fans in the West who eagerly awaited the same opportunities as their Japanese counterparts. As Western internet infrastructure improved and online play became standard, Tsujimoto and the team saw an opportunity to launch the most advanced and globally accessible Monster Hunter game yet.

Released in 2018 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, Monster Hunter: World marked a significant shift for the franchise. It offered large-scale, AAA console-quality action with enhanced graphics, expansive areas, and larger monsters.

"Our approach to the globalization of the series and Monster Hunter in general really ties into not only the themes that we had going into designing the game, but also in the name of the game," Tsujimoto reveals. "The fact that we called it Monster Hunter: World is really kind of a nod to the fact that we wanted to appeal to this worldwide audience that we wanted to really dig into and experience Monster Hunter for the first time."

Monster Hunter: World was released simultaneously worldwide without Japan-exclusive content, aligning with global standards. Tsujimoto and his team conducted extensive focus tests and user tests worldwide to refine the game's systems and ensure its global appeal.

"We did focus tests and user tests across the world, and some of the impact of those — the feedback and the opinions that we got during that really affected how we designed our game systems and really affected how much success we had as a global title for that game," Tsujimoto says.

One key change resulting from these tests was the inclusion of damage numbers when players hit monsters. These tweaks helped Monster Hunter: World and its 2022 follow-up, Monster Hunter Rise, achieve sales exceeding 20 million copies each.

This player growth was not accidental. Instead of altering the core essence of Monster Hunter to cater to Western tastes, Tsujimoto and the team opened up the series' unique nature to a broader audience without compromising its identity. This approach continues with Monster Hunter Wilds.

"At its heart, Monster Hunter really is an action game, and that sense of accomplishment you get from really mastering that action is an important aspect of Monster Hunter," Tsujimoto explains. "But for newer players, it's really getting to that point. The steps involved in getting to that sense of accomplishment is really what we're trying to strategize for, in terms of designing for new players. So with World and Rise, for example, we were taking really great care to analyze where players got stuck, what was hard to understand, what they were having trouble with, getting player feedback, and also doing our own kind of research into that. And all of that kind of knowledge has impacted how we've implemented new systems into Wilds."

Within 35 minutes of its release, Monster Hunter Wilds reached 738,000 concurrent players on Steam, more than double Monster Hunter: World's all-time high. With glowing reviews and the promise of more content, Monster Hunter Wilds is poised to continue the series' mission to conquer the global gaming market.