Monster Hunter Wilds beat Monster Hunter World, Capcom's previous defining mega-hit, by 40% in US launch month sales

Monster Hunter Wilds' first month sales are substantially higher than Monster Hunter World's from 2018, says a prominent industry analyst.

We already have plenty of data we can point to as measures of Monster Hunter Wilds' success. Right around its launch, it beat out titans like Elden Ring and Cyberpunk 2077 with a peak concurrent player count of 1.3 million on Steam, and then it broke records as the first Capcom game to cross 8 million sales in just three days. Capcom marked that milestone with a tweet assuring fans "this is just the start for the next generation of Monster Hunter."

Now we have a new Big Number from Circana analyst Mat Piscatella on Bluesky, who reports Monster Hunter Wilds' total US launch month sales are 40% higher than its closest predecessor and competition, Monster Hunter World, which launched back in January 2018. (Monster Hunter Rise is the previous game in the series, but was initially a Nintendo Switch exclusive, whereas Wilds is practically World 2.)

Granted, Monster Hunter World retailed at $60 while Monster Hunter Wilds is $70, and World's PC launch came seven months after its console launch while Wilds launched on all platforms simultaneously, but 40% is a notable leap regardless.

So what's making Monster Hunter Wilds such a successful entry in the long-running series? Well, no one quite knows for sure, but producer Ryozo Tsujimoto recently attributed part of it to the game's increased focus on story. Meanwhile, our Monster Hunter Wilds review suggests it might be topping sales charts because it's just a really good video game, with Austin calling it "the new peak of the series and an early contender for game of the year."

The Dark Souls games might be my all-time favorites, but Monster Hunter Wilds beats them in one crucial way: fashion.