Capcom, Director of Monster Hunter Operations: Global Success and the Importance of the PC Platform

By Sato . March 18, 2019. 8am

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After reaching 12 million shipments worldwide and digital sales, Monster Hunter: World was a huge success for Capcom. Haruhiro Tsujimoto, General Manager of the company, recently spoke with Nikkei about the success of the game and how it changed their perception of the PC platform and the Asian market. s-s

Nikkei: So, let's go, what kind of year was 2018 for Capcom?

Haruhiro Tsujimoto, COO of Capcom: "First of all, the success of Monster Hunter: World was much higher than expected. With shipments of more than 11 million units by the end of 2018, it has recorded unprecedented numbers. While "exceeding 10 million" is an important topic, it is not just about numbers. It turns out that Capcom's digital strategy, which began with Resident Evil 7 biohazard published in January 2017, has started to work well.

Since Resident Evil 7, Capcom strives to collect various data. We have started collecting a lot of data, including the countries where games are sold, not just words, but voices, what languages ​​are used, what kind of people play, and so on. Using this experience, since the pre-order stages of Monster Hunter: World we were able to make comparisons with Resident Evil 7 while considering future strategies.

What stood out in particular was Monster Hunter: World 's Digital sales ratio, which was unusually high in the pre-order phase. The ratio was much higher than anything we knew in the company's history. From that moment, I felt that the data acquired from Monster Hunter: World would be extremely beneficial to us. "

We heard that the PC version of Monster Hunter: World was favorable.

Haruhiro Tsujimoto: "When it was released on PC on August 10, 2018, it sold more than expected. Until now, Capcom was a games manufacturer for consoles and PC versions were still secondary. However, after seeing the sales this time, it made me think that we need to change the way we recognize the PC as a platform.

In regions where Monster Hunter: World is available for PC, Asia is at the center of concern as a new rising region for gaming. Looking at each country's sales, it was clearly higher [on PC] compared to the console versions. They have always had smartphones most of the time, but the next device used to play games is probably a PC. PCs are versatile devices that can be used for both work and study. The popularity of electronic sports is at the rendezvous and the market for PC games is also active in the country. So, lately, every time we go abroad and visit places like Hong Kong, we make sure to take a look at the gaming market, but also at the computer market.

We made more effort to approach Asian visitors at the Tokyo Game Show, but based on Monster Hunter: World has been accepted in these countries, it indicates how it has become an extremely large market. We were able to make a change in the environment in which users enjoy their games, and we also acquired data. I believe that the successful experience of Monster Hunter: World work effectively to make policy progress. "

Monster Hunter: World is available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. Its expansion, Monster Hunter World: Iceborne communicated in the autumn of 2019.