Monster Hunter Wilds took over 5 years to make partly because Monster Hunter World blew up so hard that Capcom had to figure out what all these new fans would want

Monster Hunter Wilds has taken over five years to develop, partly because 2018's Monster Hunter World was such a storming success for Capcom that it brought in droves of new players for the franchise.

By the time Monster Hunter Wilds eventually launches next year in 2025, it will have been seven years since Monster Hunter World released. The 2018 title is now the best-selling game in Capcom's history, amassing 26.3 million sales worldwide as of earlier this year. 

Speaking to Game Developer in a new interview, art director Kaname Fujioka revealed that Monster Hunter Wilds' development team hasn't been purely working on the new title in the years since - it also helped out on development of 2021's Monster Hunter Rise, and its Sunbreak DLC expansion.

Still, this means Monster Hunter Wilds has been in the works for well over five years at this point. Fujioka explains in the interview that the extensive development was driven in part by World's massive player base. "The more people came on board the series, the more we had to think about how we actually meet our users' needs when we start a new project," Fujioka said.

"There's so many more players now, and they [possess] a broader level of skill levels and experience with the [series]," the art director added. This means Capcom effectively had to spend more time in research and development prior to Monster Hunter Wilds going into full production in order to properly plan ahead for its newfound player base.

Elsewhere in the interview, series producer Ryozo Tsujimoto jokes that Monster Hunter Wilds game director Yuya Tokuda "felt" the long years of development the most. Tokuda, for his part, explains that he's particularly keen to explore the "monster ecosystem" that piqued his interested in Monster Hunter's first trailer over 20 years ago.

But realizing this "monster ecosystem" in Wilds "inevitably has a resource cost, and one of those resources is 'time,'" Tokuda adds. The game director further explains that Capcom has reached the point where it can "push the boundaries," but "not just in terms of graphical quality, but just being able to feel like you're leaping into this living, breathing world."

Tsujimoto has shared similar comments before, suggesting "there are certain things you have to have in place to be a global level hit" and maintain the momentum of a breakout game like World. He also previously told us about bringing "that immersiveness and seamlessness that we started the series on with World to the next level" in Wilds. 

Monster Hunter Wilds releases next year in 2025 across PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. You can read our own Monster Hunter Wilds preview for why our writer was immediately sold on the entire series by a 30 minute demo - despite never having played it before.

Monster Hunter Wilds DLC won't include any "pay-to-win items" but will remain cosmetic only, as "always" in the action RPG series.