Weak sales of the PS5 in Japan will impact Monster Hunter Wild’s domestic performance, says Japanese industry analyst 

In SIE’s recent State of Play, Capcom announced that Monster Hunter Wilds will launch on February 28, 2025. The release date announcement, coupled with the title’s grand showcase at TGS 2024, piqued the interest of both gamers and investors, resulting in a significant boost to Capcom’s stock price. However, analysts think that the performance of the new Monster Hunter Wilds, as well as other major console releases, will be affected by weakened sales of the PS5. 

Given the positive reception that Monster Hunter Wilds has received so far in terms of its gameplay, Japanese game industry analyst Hideki Yasuda (writing for Kabutan) opines that the game’s sales figures will be “determined by the momentum of hardware sales,” as trends from previous years have suggested. 

“However, the crucial hardware, Sony’s PlayStation 5, is seeing sales trends inferior to that of the PS4,” Yasuda notes. Last month, SIE revised suggested retail prices for the PS5 in Japan, raising the console’s price from 66,980 yen (about $463) to 79,980 yen (about $552). Since then, Yasuda comments, sales of the PS5 have fallen to less than 10,000 units per week.  

“So far, it has been estimated that 20% of initial sales for new global PlayStation releases come from Japan, so the PS5’s weak momentum in Japan is worrying,” states Yasuda. Given that the Monster Hunter series is far more popular in Japan than overseas, the PS5’s slow sales in the country are likely to have a significant impact on Wilds’ success. Yasuda projects that Monster Hunter Wilds will sell around 8 million units by the end of March 2025 (during its first month), but that this figure will be carried predominantly by overseas sales.  

“The poor sales performance of the PS5 has had a major impact on large-scale titles, but the bottom line is that SIE seems to have decided that Japan is not a market on which to focus its efforts.” Yasuda’s analysis suggests that the stunted performance of the PS5 in Japan will continue affecting AAA titles that release on the platform. 

Although Yasuda’s analysis focuses on the PS5, it is worth noting that Monster Hunter Wilds is also coming to Xbox Series X|S and PC. In the face of the PS5’s increasing price, some Monster Hunter fans in Japan might end up opting for the Xbox or PC versions instead.