Monster Hunter Wilds director urges veterans to ‘give it another chance’ after difficulty backlash and slowing sales
During an interview at the PlayStation Partner Awards 2025 in Tokyo, Monster Hunter: Wilds director Yuga Tokuda urged veteran players of the franchise who left the game shortly after launch to give it another chance.
At the event, Monster Hunter: Wilds won the Grand Award for its impressive worldwide sales, along with the User’s Choice Award. These achievements allowed Tokuda and series producer Ryozo Tsujimoto to discuss the game’s turbulent post-launch trajectory.
Tokuda acknowledged that Monster Hunter: Wilds toned down the game’s difficulty in an effort to ease newcomers in. This move, however, left veteran Monster Hunter fans a little less to chew on.
Tokuda elaborated on the game’s development and the ease of difficulty with player data from prior entries. He stated:
We analyzed what kind of places beginners were stuck in, including Monster Hunter: World. We have worked on these points in turn to make it easier for new users to clear hurdles, such as being able to reach certain monsters or to craft certain types of armor.
In addition, we have adopted as many new elements as possible that are beneficial for both beginners and existing users, such as Focus Mode. This time, as a result of making the game easy to beat even for new players and players who could not clear it before. I think the difficulty curve was a little lacking for existing users.
While this approach broadened Monster Hunter’s appeal to newer players, evidenced by over 10 million sales in the first month alone, it also allowed veterans to breeze through the game’s base content, leading to a steep decline in player engagement.
Despite the game’s initial massive success, Monster Hunter: Wilds’ sales slowed down and topped out at 10.7 million units toward the end of October. Its previous entry, Monster Hunter: World, sold almost 29.1 million units, while Monster Hunter: Rise has sold over 17 million units.
Given these metrics, Capcom leaned into content updates that introduced more challenging quests and endgame content. Tokuda requested early dropouts of Monster Hunter: Wilds, “I would appreciate it if you could pick it up again.”
Tsujimoto chimed in and said that the development team isn’t stopping with updates, hinting that Capcom is planning on continuing support for Monster Hunter: Wilds through 2026.
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