More platforms… worse sales performance?

According to industry analyst firm SuperData, Monster Hunter World, which will launch on January 26 on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, will have its sales somewhat drop due to the PC port having been delayed to the autumn… although this is the first game in the franchise that Capcom was intended for the Western audiences. The previous games on platforms such as the 3DS and PC don’t have this approach (even though since its 2004 start, the franchise has over 40 million sales!). Why?

„Platform is the primary factor, but there is another related reason. Previous entries in the series have encouraged players to meet up in person with and play together. This generally isn’t feasible outside of densely populated Japan,” said SuperData’s senior analyst Carter Rogers to VentureBeat. He also says that based on the trailers’ view counts and the search queries, Monster Hunter World‘s first-month digital sales will be between 300 thousand 600.

„I would consider the high end of that range a success. These aren’t huge numbers compared to other triple-A titles, but this is still a niche series outside of Japan.” Rogers thinks that the PC port’s at least six-month delay will provide players to choose from other games, which could be lowering the sales figures. „Koei Tecmo’s Nioh released on PlayStation 4 in February 2017 and PC in November 2017. First-month player numbers on PC were only 28 percent of first-month player numbers on PS4. In contrast, Bandai Namco’s Dark Souls III released on PC within a few weeks after the console version in early 2016. First-month PC player numbers were 40 percent of console player numbers.”

The big gap between the ports could hurt the sales. We can’t argue with it; there’s likely truth behind these words. Meanwhile, here’s the first game of „The Making of Monster Hunter World” called Concept. In it, Ryozo Fujimoto (producer), Kaname Fujioka (executive and art director), and Yuya Tokuda (director) provide a view behind the scenes. The series will get a new episode weekly.

Source: VentureBeat