The Monster Hunter series has always been “strongly conscious of female players,” producer says
In a recent interview with The Sankei Shimbun, Capcom’s veteran video game designer and producer Ryozo Tsujimoto talked about the early days of the Monster Hunter series and the factors that contributed to its explosive popularity. He also mentions an interesting commitment the series has had towards attracting female players. Tsujimoto has been involved in the franchise’s development since its inception and has been credited as producer on all titles from 2007 onwards, including the upcoming Monster Hunter Wilds.
According to Tsujimoto, the first major turning point for the Monster Hunter series was the release of Sony’s PSP. The portable console, which allowed wireless communication without any special equipment, lent itself perfectly to the development of Monster Hunter Freedom 2. The handheld title from 2007 let up to four people play cooperatively just by meeting up in person, even outdoors. “At a time when people were growing less likely to gather at their friends’ houses to play games together, we managed to reignite this type of fun,” Tsujimoto comments.
As such, Monster Hunter Freedom 2 performed extremely well in Japan, selling 4 million copies. However, the series continued to struggle in the global market all the way up until 2018, when Monster Hunter: World exploded in popularity overseas.
Selling 5 million copies in only 3 days, Monster Hunter World instantly became Capcom’s best-selling title at the time. The game was crafted carefully to appeal to first timers and tested for overseas markets. Tsujimoto also comments that sales were spurred on by the release of a PC version (this was the first game in the series to be released on PC as well as home consoles).
The Monster Hunter series’ popularity also stems from thinking outside the box. “My concept for Monster Hunter’s promotion was to have people see it around town.” Based on this philosophy, Capcom has been organizing things like collaborations with Universal Studios Japan, turning Japanese towns into “Monster Hunter towns,” opening Monster Hunter-themed bars and running bizarre ad campaigns. The developers were also keen to expand the player demographic – “We were strongly conscious of female users,” Tsujimoto comments. This sentiment was reflected in the developers making active efforts to make Monster Hunter visible in places typically frequented by women, such as karaoke shops and cafes.
The series producer adds, “We even thought of encouraging couples to play together.” Interestingly, the Japanese media reported on a celebrity marriage earlier this year, which was apparently the result of two people (actress Nanase Nishino and actor Yuki Yamada) growing closer through playing Monster Hunter together online.
