‘Monster Hunter: World’ Breaks Record As Capcom’s Fastest Shipping Game In Company History
Capcom’s new game, Monster Hunter: World, has been a huge hit with console gamers since its January 26 release date. As it is the first game in the long-running Monster Hunter series to be made available for PlayStation and/or Xbox in close to a decade, it arrived a little more than two weeks ago as a hotly anticipated title. So far, the numbers seem to back this up, as Capcom announced this week that the new game has set another sales-related record.
According to a report from Gamespot, Monster Hunter: World has, as of February 9, reached a total of 6 million shipments, making it the fastest game to reach this milestone in Capcom’s long history as a video game maker. This comes just two weeks or so removed from the company’s announcement late last month that the title had the strongest first three days in Monster Hunter history. The new record, however, is not to be mistaken for the actual number of units sold to consumers, as Gamespot explained, shipment figures include the number of copies of the game shipped to retailers, as well as total digital sales.
As Monster Hunter: World was released for both PlayStation 4 and Xbox One users alike, Gamespot pointed out that it shouldn’t be a surprise that the game became Capcom’s fastest shipping title ever. When combined, the total user base of both consoles far exceeds that of the Nintendo 3DS, which was the exclusive platform recent Monster Hunter releases were made available on. The game was also given a simultaneous global release date, which also helped sales and shipment figures. As far as game mechanics are concerned, Gamespot stressed that Monster Hunter: World is a substantially easier game to play for first-timers, while still fairly challenging in its own right, thus making it appealing to a wide range of consumers.
Top downloads for January are in! @MonsterHunter World takes the lead as the most downloaded PS4 game. Read the full charts here: https://t.co/7XGQMguOtP pic.twitter.com/KSb0VSWHwO
— PlayStation (@PlayStation) February 11, 2018
Elaborating on why Monster Hunter: World has become so popular in the few weeks it’s been on retailers’ shelves, Forbes gaming writer Paul Tassi echoed Gamespot‘s observations that the game was long awaited by console owners, while also combining challenging game mechanics and a relatively easy learning curve for beginners. He also commended Capcom for creating a title free of “loot box drama,” or an abundance of microtransactions that require players to part with their real money, and making the game appealing to streamers and streaming video audiences alike.
While Capcom did not make any designation between digital downloads and shipments to retailers when announcing Monster Hunter: World as its fastest shipping title ever, Sony’s PlayStation blog wrote on Sunday that it was the No. 1 most downloaded PS4 title for the month of January, putting it ahead of games such as Dragon Ball Fighterz, Madden NFL 18, and Call of Duty: WWII.
