Monster Hunter Wilds has had a very successful launch, smashing sales records for Capcom and punching through Steam’s concurrent player peak numbers to overshadow other titles. The game officially launched back on February 28, and almost immediately, it was shooting to the top of Steam’s most popular games. Within just a few hours, it had well over 700,000 concurrent players. By the weekend, it had easily shot up to around 1.3 million.
Now, Capcom has confirmed that Monster Hunter Wilds is its fastest-selling game ever. Three days after launch, it’s now confirmed that it has sold over 8 million copies worldwide. That also makes it Capcom’s fastest-selling game in the Monster Hunter franchise. Suffice it to say Monster Hunter Wilds is a massive hit, and it doesn’t seem like the game will be slowing down anytime soon.
All of this makes perfect sense if you look at the franchise’s recent track record. Monster Hunter: World has sold a total of 21.3 million copies to date. Monster Hunter Rise is sitting at 16.7 million. These are Capcom’s number one and number two best-selling games, respectively. Even the Monster Hunter World: Iceborn expansion at number four has sold 14.9 million units globally to date.
You get the picture. The Monster Hunter franchise has become a behemoth. One that easily reaches the size of the largest monsters you fight in the games.
Monster Hunter Wilds sales are likely to push beyond its two recent predecessors
Less than a week into its release, Monster Hunter Wilds is a clear winner for Capcom. What isn’t clear is if it will push past its two most recent predecessors. However, it is now Capcom’s fastest-selling game in less than a week. With it already being at 8 million copies, it’s half of the lifetime sales of 2021’s Monster Hunter Rise. A game that’s more than three years old. That gives it a very good chance of becoming Capcom’s number-one-selling game eventually.
The question is just how long will it take to get there? Despite its popularity this early on, the game isn’t without its faults. Many players have reported stability and optimization issues. Crashes, frame rate drops, and more than occasional stuttering are all issues that players have been facing. They’re also all issues that have caused the game to receive large numbers of negative reviews. Although, the game has risen on that front over the past couple of days. As it now sits at a “Mixed” rating on Steam.
All of this is to say that Monster Hunter Wilds hasn’t been shackled by negative reviews. What remains to be seen is if Capcom will push out fixes to better optimize the game. At which point (if it happens), it could probably have an easy time grabbing more players early in its release.
Monster Hunter Wilds is so popular that it caused a huge boost in cheese naan sales in Japan
If you’ve played the game, then you’re probably familiar with the cheese naan scene. Early on, you’ll end up in the village of Kunafa, where you’re sat down to enjoy a meal with friends. One of the components of this meal was cheese naan. A dish that is just like it sounds. Warm, fluffy naan bread with gobs of melty cheese on top. The success of Monster Hunter Wilds, paired with the realistic-looking food, caused sales of cheese naan in Japan to skyrocket.
Players have been flocking to Nepalese restaurants in the country to try this food for themselves. It just goes to show how popular and influential the game has been so far. While also showcasing that food is the great equalizer. It brings people together like nothing else really seems to do. If you haven’t played Monster Hunter Wilds yet, you can pick it up on PC via Steam and on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.
