Monster Hunter Wilds producer knows exactly why the game is so successful—and it’s not gameplay

Monster Hunter Wilds is the fastest-selling Capcom title to date, shipping millions of copies in its first couple of weeks. The game’s senior producer, Ryozo Tsujimoto, believes the success doesn’t have much to do with gameplay, but with Wilds‘ greater focus on storytelling.

In a March 10 interview with The Nikkei (translated by Automaton), Tsujimoto said that Wilds‘ greater level of immersion through voice acting and deeper storytelling drove the game to such stellar heights. He added that the inclusion of crossplay, too, played a crucial role, as players on any platform could play with their friends no matter the machine they used. It’s true that Wilds has a much more story-driven design than its predecessors, where the narrative was often sidelined in favor of good combat and enemies.

“We put an emphasis on the story and used voice acting to elevate the sense of immersion,” Tsujimoto said, which he believes ultimately drove the game’s sales. Wilds became the fastest-selling Capcom title with over eight million copies shipped during its first week on the market. It was also the biggest physical PS5 game launch in Japan to date, which the developers seem to attribute to this new and improved story-oriented design philosophy.

Wilds is certainly one of the best in the Monster Hunter series, and our Scott Duwe gave it an 8.5 out of 10—even if he didn’t think the storyline was all too special. The gameplay, though, was as good as ever, with bigger, badder, more challenging monsters for players to tackle. Still, the devs seem to hold this narrative side of things in high regard, and it’ll be exiting to see how that influences Capcom’s further releases.