Why Do I Think 'Monster Hunter World' Got So Big in 2018?

Monster Hunter has been around for a long time and rightly so. In Japan, Monster Hunter is the top selling game of all time due to its simple (hunt, collect, make, and repeat) gameplay. However this is not the case in the West.

Hi, my name is Jebber and I am a long time gamer and Monster Hunter fan. I first played MH on the PS2, back when Capcom released it with the intention of making a 4 player co-op game that required team play and tactics. The first game broke the estimated sales record by a landslide and Capcom knew that it would. The team behind MH knew that it would be hugely popular, hence the reason they released the game worldwide...

So what went wrong in the West?

For starters, the early games on the PS1 and PS2 had very simple, pick up and play controls (with a few exceptions). Teams behind the games made everything run as smooth and fast as possible, given the hardware at the time, but this was not the case with MH. Weapons moved slower the bigger they were, monsters dodged your attacks instead of standing in one place taking abuse and dodging took perfect timing with some monsters killing you in a single blow! For gamers in the West, this was no good and most thought this was due to bad design.

Move along a few years when the next game got released for the PSP and we saw a huge shift in console. The reason behind the shift from console to handheld was due to the fact that many people in Japan were on the go; playing games outside and on commutes was the next step in gaming for them. “Great, I can play games on the way to work now!” (is the quote that I would imagine left most people’s mouths.) But for some reason, they didn’t quite take off in the West and as much as handheld consoles did well there, sales were nowhere near as good as in the East, meaning even fewer people were playing the MH games in the West and the ones that did still found the combat clunky and awkward.

So what changed and why has MH blown up in the West with the release of Monster Hunter World?

If you ask me, Dark Souls is to thank.

Now I know what you’re going to say... “But they are two very different games!” “How can you say that?! Monster Hunter / Dark Souls is much better, etc.”

Just hear me out.

From the dawn of gaming, the gaming industry has been making easier and easier games. Some making them easy for story purposes, some for increased player base and some just to make money by locking options for an easy game behind in-game currency. (I’m looking at you, EA!) But then it happened, a company turned around and said... "Let’s make a game that’s hard as balls!” And with that, Dark Souls was born.

Fast forward a few more years and we see that due to the popularity of Dark Souls, the demand for harder games was rearing its head. We then saw DS 1,2,3, Bloodborne, Nioh, and Surge to name a few very similar games.

People were having fun dying in games, fighting that boss for the 100th time just to “git gud” and to get the feeling that... yeah, I earned this reward, I didn’t pay for it, it wasn’t easy, I used my skill and tactics to earn the reward I wanted.

These games make gamers feel bad for a short amount of time but then it happens... the game clicks, you suddenly realise that through all the bad there is an overwhelming positive outcome and that makes you feel great!

Fast forward to 2017 and Capcom announced Monster Hunter World as a worldwide release... they bided their time and it paid off big time! The game is a huge success, with great graphics, gameplay, and sound, but most of all, passion. They never gave up on the western audience, they never said “Out of all the MH games, we only sold 3%* of those in the West compared to the East, screw it, let’s just ship to the East.” Capcom did right by their fans, you can see how much has gone into this MH compared to the past games, you can see how they have really stuck to their roots yet made it appealing to both audiences (West, East, North, South, you name it, they aimed it). They had faith in their creation and created an amazing games for both new gamers and veterans alike, earning them a 9/10 on most review websites and also a cheeky amount of money, I would imagine.

I, having put 100+ hours into the game, would have to agree with these reviews, I’ve been a Monster Hunter player since the very first MH and I have to say this is not only the best but my favourite MH to date! What else can I say but good work Capcom... you did me (and many more people) proud.

That’s it for this article, it’s my first one and if it gets enough attention there will be many more to come.

Much love, Jebber.