Hirokazu Hamamura might not be a household name, but he's currently President of Enterbrain, the publisher of Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu, after a long stint as its Editor-in-Chief. It's fair to say he knows his stuff.
Speaking with Japanese site Mantan Web, Hamamura-san predicted that the new entry in the celebrated Monster Hunter series has enough clout to give sales of PlayStation hardware a big boost on the console's home turf. He says that there are many players who have been waiting for a new home console Monster Hunter game, and we all know how popular the franchise is in Japan.
He also says the game itself has the potential to sell 10 million copies during its lifetime, citing the volume of players who enjoyed the beta tests, and its sheer popularity in the Land of the Rising Sun. Pre-orders for the title are apparently above expectations, too. To contextualise this number, he alleges that Final Fantasy XV has shipped 7 million copies to date, and reasons that Japanese games have seen a worldwide jump in popularity, with titles like NieR: Automata, Nioh, and Persona 5 all selling well.
It all sounds pretty reasonable to us. Monster Hunter: World is the first home console iteration for some time, has the lowest barrier to entry in the series, and thanks to the recent open beta tests, we know is shaping up very nicely indeed. The game launches worldwide in just a few weeks, on 26th January.
Are you excited to play Monster Hunter: World? Do you think Hamamura-san's predictions are accurate? Sharpen your oversized blade in the comments below.
[source dualshockers.com, via mantan-web.jp]
Comments 25
A couple of figures, for extra context:
The best-selling Capcom title is Resident Evil 5, at 7.2 million units sold. The best-selling MH titles are Freedom 3 (PSP, 2010, 4.9m) and X/Generations (3DS, 2015 JP, 2016 West, 4.3m).
Quite frankly, I can see how sales in the West could make up for the sales lost in Japan due to a lack of portability, but I don't see how World is supposed to sell more than double the amount of units Freedom 3 sold. This analyst is banking pretty hard on the title taking off on Steam, which is a big gamble.
And for further reference, the guy also predicted DQXI would sell more than Final Fantasy XV and Pokémon UltraSun/Moon combined in Japan, which is just bonkers.
Perhaps he's being a little bit over optimistic with the numbers, but you never know. Certainly might help Sony stay well ahead of the competition.
I think there's a chance. Monster Hunter is massive, especially in Japan, and this is the first proper, HD, large scale entry. Heck, I'm looking forward to it, and I've never given the series a second thought beforehand. I think there will be a lot of newcomers giving this game a go.
@Bliquid Yup. That one's a head-scratcher for me as well. Maybe it's the reintroduction of older monsters and villages from previous games, I don't know.
Although, to be fair, 4U sits at 4.1m, so it's winning by a nose.
@MarcelRguez This game will sell very well on the west because it's a gaas game, with 70M ps4 users + 125M steam users I'm sure 10M lifetime sales can be achieved. Remember, japanese 3rd party games sold best on playstation console compared to others.
The only way it hits 10 million is if it really takes off on PC, which is certainly possible but not guaranteed.
I really can't see the Xbox edition contributing much.
@wiiware There's selling best and there's selling 10 million units. Stuff like NieR and Persona 5 just reached the 2m milestone, for example.
What's the marketing like in the EU or the US? I'm curious to see how it does on the Xbox and PC...
No chance. 5-7 million tops. It's going to do really well in Japan, but there is what 6 million PS4s out there?
You basically need everyone in Japan to buy this game and then the rest of the world has to pitch in a fair amount.
I just think it's too 'Japanese' to hit 10 million (I sound like Pachter lol).
@MarcelRguez Co-op games usually sold better compared to single player games, if the game's as good as nier/persona I think it will do way better. Not on its first or second year, but maybe on its 4th or 5th year.
@wiiware Fair enough. Still can't see it without the game exploding in popularity, but I guess it's not impossible.
It is single player AND CoOp and looks nicer than any other MH out there without any known flaws ...
For me it is a dream becoming true.
I think it has a chance to be a GOTY and to come near 10M.
There are so many PS4 users out there ...
@Bonito Exactly... it almost seems too good to be true!
It sounds too high a number so I doubt it.
Beta was nice but I am not getting it. I will be playing the long overdue SFV Arcade mode by then.
10 million might be a bit much but I think it will become the best selling MH game to date.
One issue
It has competition in Japan
DBFZ And Dissidia are Part of 2 juggernaut franchises (Dragon Ball And Final Fantasy) heck I think the timing of release is pretty bad kinda similar to Wolfenstein 2 coming out alongside Assassins Creed and well a former plumber... but who knows although one issue is a certain company with a pink puffball who is also pretty popular in Japan will take away MH World’s momentum...
But who knows I may be underestimating Monster Hunter maybe it’ll trump (no not the POTUS) all these popular titles and yes idk when the pink puffball will hit shelves but I do remember it hits in early 2018...
Now in terms of PS4 Japan sales it’ll prob sell 1M or so but it’d have to get the same treatment as a certain handheld in Japan to reach at least half of the sales of that certain handheld in Japan which means Sony has that MH exclusivity back.
Monster Hunter World will bump PS4 sales in Japan, but by how much? On Wii, Monster Hunter Tri bumped Wii sales to a total of over 200,000 in the four weeks following its release. Will we see similar sales for PS4 hardware in Japan outside of a holiday season?
I think it will be very popular on the PS4 and Xbox but ...
1) PC gamers are very fickle; if TotalBiscuit & his PCMR-cult hates the game, 80% of all PC gamers will also hate the game.
2) With most of our gaming media being PC-centric, they won't give that much coverage of the game.
3) Since the PC release comes much later in the year, PC gamers will be very grumpy about it come release day. These people will solely be looking for faults, not greatness or fun.
So while I think the PC version will do OK with maybe 500k sold copies, and 2500000 pirated copies, its success will come down to how well it sells on console.
10M on both consoles sounds reachable to me.
It's a shame they haven't given Xbox gamers the chance to try out the game before launch, I think that would have boosted the enthusiasm for the game on that platform. I would rather see the game do well on Xbox than on PC. That's my own prejudice speaking.
I don't get the excitement, the whole grinding to get materials for better stuff so you can do more grinding MMO style just seems so 90s and 00s to me. This game is really going head to head with Destiny without the setting to pull in the shooter demographic. It may do well with the big eastern PC markets like S Korea but in the west don't see this making much of a splash at all outside of the kind of gamers that read pushsquare
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/monster-hunter-meat-shack-tickets-41281744810
@Fight_Teza_Fight Hahaha, you should try out the demo for Toukiden. I've never felt that MH was "too Japanese", but Toukiden takes the Japanesiness and bumps it up x1000. At the time, I wanted to see how similar Toukiden is to MH because it's somewhat of a MH clone and I wanted to see if it could fill the PS4 void in my heart, but I didn't really like it. Luckily, MH World is coming.
@Tsurii Really? They should be doing things like putting giant MHW monsters statues in towns/cities much like what Blizzard did when they had life-sized OW action figures in cities across the globe. At the very least have posters on billboards, subways or public transports.
Toukiden I & II are ok, but way too easy.
@GodOfPie I love Japanese games! Nioh & Persona 5 are 2 of my top 3 for 2017. Getting MH World at launch.
Got Toukiden still sitting in my backlog.
Just think 10mil is a big ask, considering the much more main stream Final Fantasy XV is at 'only' 7mil.
@Fight_Teza_Fight
"10mil is a big ask, considering the much more main stream Final Fantasy XV is at 'only' 7mil."
I was thinking same thing. Now if MHW was on a handheld console as well than maybe 10 million is a realistic target.
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