Pokemon Unite and Call of Duty: Mobile developer Timi Studio Group is working with Capcom on a Monster Hunter mobile game.
The Tencent subsidiary announced the partnership today. "The in-development game will reproduce the hunting actions that define the Monster Hunter series, and offer players a new game experience unique for mobile devices and phones," a press release reads.
This untitled Monster Hunter mobile game is said to enable the series "to scale to more platforms with an aim to give global hunters - experienced or new - the freedom to hunt as they desire, anytime and anywhere."
Sadly, that's about all we know about the project for now. From the sound of things, it at least appears that this Monster Hunter game will be closer to Call of Duty: Mobile than Pokemon Unite – more of a recreation rather than a spinoff, that is. That said, we can only glean so much from PR speak, and how this game actually plays remains to be seen.
Monster Hunter started on PS2 but quickly jumped to portable platforms like Sony's PSP and later the Nintendo DS family, which is where it really found its footing. Monster Hunter was a huge social hit in Japan in its heyday, and even today you'll still see references to a portable monster hunting game in Japanese media.
The most successful game in the series, Monster Hunter World, found global success on then-current-gen consoles and PC by streamlining the hunting side of the game in favor of sharper action. The most recent mainline game, Monster Hunter Rise, returned to portability with a Switch release but was ported to PC in time for the big Sunbreak expansion which is still trucking along.
Monster Hunter Freedom Unite was previously ported to mobile mostly in-tact, and Monster Hunter Riders was a mobile exclusive (which was shut down after two years). Assuming it isn't another radically different spinoff – not that modern Monster Hunter is a stranger to those after the turn-based JRPGs of Monster Hunter Stories, also available on mobile – it'll be interesting to see how the series is altered by its latest jump from handhelds to actual mobile phones.
EA is backing its own Monster Hunter-like: Wild Hearts, an ambitious game from Toukiden studio Koei Tecmo.
