Mark your calendars, hunters. Monster Hunter World: Iceborne is coming to PC on January 9, 2020, as Capcom announced today in a new 4K trailer showcasing the PC version. For months, PC players only knew that the expansion would arrive in winter, and even after Capcom narrowed it down to January, there was still a month of wriggle room. It's nice to have an exact day for the PC release, especially considering it's so early in the month.
Iceborne's PC trailer is nothing we haven't seen before, at least in terms of cutscenes and features, but the presentation is immaculate. Our Monster Hunter World: Iceborne review was handled on a base PS4, and even then Iceborne's frosty environments and towering creatures looked amazing. But the PC version supports high-res textures, 4K and ultra-wide output, DirectX 12, and uncapped framerates. So yeah, it looks pretty good. The PC trailer also promises improved mouse and keyboard controls, which is a nice option for PC purists.
Notably, the PC trailer also features Rajang, the electric ape who was added to Iceborne through a free post-launch update. Rajang's appearance is significant because it suggests the PC version will launch with Rajang as well as the Guiding Lands area that it calls home. In the past, updates and new monsters have only come to PC several months after their console release, like Final Fantasy 14's Behemoth, which is ironic since it's from a PC game.
If Rajang is available on PC at Iceborne's launch, that would suggest Capcom is finally closing the release gap between World's PC and console versions, which would be nice to see. PC players already have to wait around four months to play Iceborne at all, so waiting on new monsters and quality of life improvements which are already out would just be salt in the wound. Here's hoping Iceborne is up to speed when it launches on PC.
Update: in an email, Capcom clarified that Rajang will come to PC in early February. Another update coming in March will add another new monster. That's still a much faster PC turnaround than previous updates, and Capcom says that "title updates for PC are planned to converge with the console schedule for release at the same time in the future."
Speaking of quality of life updates: World is getting an expanded transmog system and Guiding Lands improvements.
