The Capcom brand is approaching its 40th year, and has only gotten better over time. Back in 1979, when the idea of consoles and handhelds were only a fantasy and the Apple IIe was all the rage, the company has a vision it stuck with. That vision has created the Monster Hunter games. Just this past week, the company announced that Monster Hunter: World is now the best selling game of all-time for Capcom.
With a total of 7.5 million units shipped, it is thus far the hottest game of 2018. Now I hate to be picky, but “shipped” is not the same thing as “sold.” So you have to carve off a few thousand (or hundred thousand) units from that number to get a more realistic perspective of the game’s success. Still, that is an impressive number. Units that are counted only account for the physical and digital copies on Play Station 4 and Xbox One, and there is the likelihood a PC version of the game is not far behind. All of this is certain to increase that 7.5 million peak it is currently at.
Critics are saying the reason for its success is that the game is simply fun to play. In a world where games are played for profit, it is refreshing to get back to the idea of game entertainment. Looters are currently the most popular genre in the gaming world, and Capcom has combined this aspect with giving the player rewards for attaining a high skill level and for simple persistence. This reduces the player frustration level. But it is true you have to get comfortable with the various systems, but once you’re past that everything is just fun.
Not to be out-criticized, some of the experts have been saying the only reason for the game’s success is because much of the competition has been lagging behind on their release dates. That is like saying a football team that makes the playoffs got there because of a soft regular season schedule. The fact is they’re there and have to be dealt with. Save the what-ifs for the fantasy world. Sales can be expected to increase and the game sales competitive as the year goes on, especially when the PC version finally hits the virtual shelf.
There is talk of a Switch port version, something that the company seems reluctant to pursue at this point. It’s not saying it won’t happen, but Capcom can’t be slow getting to flipping the switch. They might be waiting to see how things go over the next few months before making a push for Switch but that is only delaying success. Let’s hope they are not listening too closely to those critics. Success is success here no matter how it is measured, and press releases such as this one can only help the company’s brand and future game sales.
What will be left for the haters to say if Monster Hunter: World ends up surpassing everyone’s expectation at the end of the year? The company has been around for almost four decades, and it’s not because they have been waiting on the approval of the critics before moving forward. In fact, Capcom has been around long before most of its critics.
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