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Kaname Fujioka talks Monster Hunter World: no westernization/casualization

Defuser

Member
I'm pretty pessimistic of MHW selling much better in the West despite there being a lot more folks saying it will be their first MH game. I think PC will bring in a good chunk of sales, but I think it will suffer the same problem it always has in the West, in that the gameplay is just too inaccessible for whatever reason, despite not being all that dissimilar to something like Dark Souls.
In my opinion Capcom had a chance to do a multiplatform MH like MHTri during the PS3/360/PC to expand the base but they chose to do it on the Wii and we all know how third party sales are on the Wii in the west.

Look at the Souls series which did successfully last gen due to word of mouth despite the weighty weapon controls and difficulty.

But now I would say its the right time to strike, with the popularity of co-op games and loot grinding like Destiny/Division.etc Monster Hunter has a very good chance to sell base on gameplay, loot grinding, difficulty like souls and of course slaying badass dinosaurs/dragons on the PS4/XB1/PC...especially PC.
 

Calm Mind

Member
"You can trust us"

180px-Edna_Krabappel_Marcia_Wallace_tribute.jpg
 
When/where did they say that?

It's from a pretty in-depth analysis released last week:

If World is to effectively grow the brand while meeting an absolute level of sales on par with the most recent games, it will need to sell between four and five million overall, preferably toward the higher end so that it can match Portable 3rd's 4.9 million figure. In other words, World needs to sell about three million in the West.

...

The last major Monster Hunter to debut on home consoles was Monster Hunter Tri for Wii in 2009. At this point, the Wii was still a hot item, and the Monster Hunter franchise had exploded thanks to the PSP. But even with all that momentum, Tri stalled out the gate. Why? No four-player local co-op (and no, that neutered split-screen mode wasn't cutting the mustard). The game eventually hit 1.9 million globally, but by then Capcom had accepted that handhelds were the future. This sentiment was firmly cemented after Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate for 3DS coasted to 2.6 million without online capabilities, while the technically superior Wii U version never even breached a million.
 
In my opinion Capcom had a chance to do a multiplatform MH like MHTri during the PS3/360/PC to expand the base but they chose to do it on the Wii and we all know how third party sales are on the Wii in the west.

Look at the Souls series which did successfully last gen due to word of mouth despite the weighty weapon controls and difficulty.

But now I would say its the right time to strike, with the popularity of co-op games and loot grinding like Destiny/Division.etc Monster Hunter has a very good chance to sell base on gameplay, loot grinding, difficulty like souls and of course slaying badass dinosaurs/dragons on the PS4/XB1/PC...especially PC.

Well 3rd gen was multiplatform in Japan

We were super close to getting Portable 3rd and 3rdHD in the west

Somewhere that ship got sunk and Maaaaaannn...

It was a very similar time to now with switch owners
 
Its up to the community and playing with friends

Its the one thing that breaks down the barriers among both of those series

Even more so for Monster Hunter since it places such a huge emphasis on it as opposed to Souls where you are encouraged to challenge yourself by soloing the content
I guess. Until you remember that there's always been unique solo monsters and they can't beat them because they were carried all the way to g-rank. 😈

I mean y'all trusted them with monster hunter up until now? Didn't yall
Except that Capcom wasn't at the pathetic state with underperforming, and rushed games. Monster Hunter is their bread and butter at the moment, it is not strange at all to question their management.
 

Mupod

Member
I'm not going through this entire mess of a thread but I don't understand how you could complain about the new mounting system if you actually watched how it works. It is less of a QTE than the old arbitrary bar, you need to move around and avoid being bucked off instead of just mashing a button.

I mean y'all trusted them with monster hunter up until now? Didn't yall

hey they fucked up bowguns in Tri they could do it again.
 
Vindictive? Every single thread has been shit up by a small minority. I'm sick of the attitude they have. I don't care WHY they're doing it every thread, but it needs to stop. Obviously I have nothing against it being localised or for worlds to get a switch port, but honestly, I don't want want this behaviour to be vindicated and to teach people that through constant shit posting they can get what they want.

So you've never been in an MH thread for the past 5 or so years then

When the game was on 3DS there was people complaining about changes and portbegging too. this isn't new
 
You said we know what their sales expectations are. You linked me to the contrary.

I'm confused.

Okay, it would be more accurate to say "we know what their minimum sales expectations have to be."

Could Capcom be insane and expect 6 million? It's possible, but 4 million is the lowest they could go in order for this to be a worthwhile venture.
 

Sesha

Member
What's this 4m units target I see some people claiming? AFAIK Capcom hasn't updated their forecast for the rest of the financial year.
 

Kyoufu

Member
Okay, it would be more accurate to say "we know what their minimum sales expectations have to be."

Could Capcom be insane and expect 6 million? It's possible, but 4 million is the lowest they could go in order for this to be a worthwhile venture.

If it sells more than their past efforts have sold in overseas markets then it'd be a worthwhile venture for them.
 
I mean y'all trusted them with monster hunter up until now? Didn't yall

Tbh yes. What happened with MHP3 was bullshit but I at least understand that the PSP was beyond dead and there was no financials to back up the release. And then with the HD version shenanigans with Sony it became even more of a clusterfuck.

But consider we got Tri, 3U, 4U and Generations I figured they had decided they would localize all the games and the sales had been good as well in the West. Basically ~1 million. We are far past the PSP days.

The fact they aren't localizing XX is extrenely surprising. In fact, anyone who told me they wouldnt before the MHW trademark appeared would have to have had some pretty deep inside knowledge imo.

Anyone going on and on about the PSP honestly seems like they wanna make it about console wars. I never would have bet on them localizing Generations but not XX. Getting the vanilla version but not the expansion after getting the last 2 expansions is not the norm for this series.
 

BitStyle

Unconfirmed Member
What's this 4m units target I see some people claiming? AFAIK Capcom hasn't updated their forecast for the rest of the financial year.
Is World launching in this fiscal year for Capcom? I'd imagine it would probably fall under next year.
 
Okay, it would be more accurate to say "we know what their minimum sales expectations have to be."

Could Capcom be insane and expect 6 million? It's possible, but 4 million is the lowest they could go in order for this to be a worthwhile venture.

4 million is definitely do-able.

Those are Souls numbers when you factor in all of the platforms. And MHW is more aesthetically approachable w/ the dinosaurs and open-world format.
 
You pretty much went up and said "I hope MonHun never comes to Switch" just out of spite.

It doesn't matter that you didn't directly say a combination of the words "Nintendo" or "fanboys", your intention with that post was crystal clear.
Not even spite, just fatigue at every thread. I've played MH4U and Generations and was looking forward to Double Cross localisation myself. This has nothing to do with console warring on my behalf. But EVERY thread has someone bringing up XX not getting ported like it's relevant to every topic, and I'm at wits end with the childishness. I don't care if it's because they actually are Nintendo hardcore, just want the game to remain portable, or don't own any other platforms, they just need to stop ruining everyone else's day with the shitposting.
So you've never been in an MH thread for the past 5 or so years then

When the game was on 3DS there was people complaining about changes and portbegging too. this isn't new
No, I haven't. Never really been into the Monster Hunter threads on this site until World's announcement and didn't own a 3DS to play MH3 so didn't really pay attention to it.
 

BadWolf

Member
What's this 4m units target I see some people claiming? AFAIK Capcom hasn't updated their forecast for the rest of the financial year.

MH games usually sell around the 4m mark so people are probably just using that to measure the success of MHW.
 

BitStyle

Unconfirmed Member
If it sells more than their past efforts have sold in overseas markets then it'd be a worthwhile venture for them.
Considering money for development this time around I don't think it'll be that simple. If they budgeted well enough for 4 million WW to satisfy then I'll admit Capcom learned compared to their last fiscal year.
 
Tbh yes. What happened with MHP3 was bullshit but I at least understand that the PSP was beyond dead and there was no financials to back up the release. And then with the HD version shenanigans with Sony it became even more of a clusterfuck.

But consider we got Tri, 3U, 4U and Generations I figured they had decided they would localize all the games and the sales had been good as well in the West. Basically ~1 million. We are far past the PSP days.

The fact they aren't localizing XX is extrenely surprising. In fact, anyone who told me they wouldnt before the MHW trademark appeared would have to have had some pretty deep inside knowledge imo.

Well the way i see it

They started in on MHW 4 years ago and have everything tied up to do the global simultaneous release

obviously fans shat all over their excuse to this point though

I dont know if we will get the true reason XX isnt being localized at the moment but we still dont know for sure that it will never be localized

I dont see capcom doing it anytime soon since im not sure they plan on releasing 2 MH games close together

They should have had XX ready for the west this fall if they were going to do it at all
 
People pissed about XX constantly coming up should blame Capcom. Unless the mods step in this isn't gonna stop for about the most obvious reasons one could think of.

Well the way i see it

They started in on MHW 4 years ago and have everything tied up to do the global simultaneous release

obviously fans shat all over their excuse to this point though

I dont know if we will get the true reason XX isnt being localized at the moment but we still dont know for sure that it will never be localized

I dont see capcom doing it anytime soon since im not sure they plan on releasing 2 MH games close together

They should have had XX ready for the west this fall if they were going to do it at all

I frankly dont give a shit about what Capcom's excuse is. They built an expectation that these games would be localized and now they are just saying fuck you buy that instead. The warring is totally self inflicted. It's the perfect example of pissing off your fanbase for literally no reason.

I don't have a problem with World even if I am not buying it. I think after the terrible reveal they have turned around my opinion of what I saw. I have mostly stayed away from World discussion because I don't really wanna bitch about the XX situation and my Capcom distaste while people are hyped up. But you know it's w/e at the end of the day.
 

Defuser

Member
What's this 4m units target I see some people claiming? AFAIK Capcom hasn't updated their forecast for the rest of the financial year.
MHP3rd for the PSP in total sold nearly 5 million in Japan alone and it's still yet to be beat. MH4/Gen sold around 4.2 each estmate.

So alot of people are basing 4M that Capcom hopes to achieve with MH:W worldwide to make up the hypotheical 4 million sales lost in Japan if they had went handheld for MH:W.
 
It sells 2mil+ only in Japan. Considering the fact PS4 isn't exactly a big seller over there. They might just reduce their expectations.

Japan has XX this august in the portable space and who knows what MHW will sell there

At the very least Japan is going to continue to have access to everything in the near future

Western setup is a bit more messy but at least with PC support the option for portable play opens up
 

Ridley327

Member
4 million is definitely do-able.

Those are Souls numbers when you factor in all of the platforms. And MHW is more aesthetically approachable w/ the dinosaurs and open-world format.

I'm really not seeing how a game that features dragons mingling with tiny cat people is more aesthetically approachable than tapping into the dark fantasy aesthetic that's been popular since Game of Thrones and Skyrim blew up, but hey.
 
I like Capcom, and I like MH, but they're crazy if they seriously think that MHW is going to sell well in the West without more alterations to the core gameplay.

In Souls, you typically only have to worry about your health and your remaining healing items. In MH, you have to worry about your health and healing items + your constantly draining max stamina and max stamina replenishing items + your weapon durability and whetstones + the temperature of the environment and anti heat/cold items + the time limit. In addition, all of the aforementioned upkeep items must be regularly farmed/bought/crafted.

Monster Hunter, as it is, is incompatible with the West. There's a reason why it's still a niche franchise after 3 console games and 5 portable games coming over here.

Let's not exaggerate, consuming a Cool Drink / Energy Drink / meat every five minutes or so is not insurmountable.

Another issue for new players are the overwhelmingly complicated weapon attacks. The "control charts" on CAPCOM's website are hilarious:

 

Defuser

Member
It sells 2mil+ only in Japan. Considering the fact PS4 isn't exactly a big seller over there. They might just reduce their expectations.
2mil+ is too generous considering MHTri for wii only did 1mil+. IIRC So far no games on the sony console after ps2 in japan ever hit 2 million in sales.
 

Fiendcode

Member
Capcom will likely update with IR projections next quarter. Until then we don't know what they want World to sell but I think 4m is a pretty reasonable target.

Japan has XX this august in the portable space and who knows what MHW will sell there

At the very least Japan is going to continue to have access to everything in the near future

Western setup is a bit more messy but at least with PC support the option for portable play opens up
Japan's also not getting PC/XBO releases for World I believe. Those aren't super consequential platforms in the region though.
 

Delio

Member
Man it got heated in here. I'll just say that I'm excited to play World and hope it does well. I'm curious how the DLC path will be for World.
 

Chauzu

Member
You've done this every monster hunter thread you ignore every other post but sure enough quote anybody calling them out

I'm hardly a common sight in Monster Hunter threads, I posted a bit in the XX localization one and I posted in this one because I am genuinly interested and worried about how Capcom is going to get the western sales they need with the same formula as before. Being on more mainstream platforms helps ofc, and the online solution sounds good for the west, but will it be enough? I hope so!
 

kaioshade

Member
Not even spite, just fatigue at every thread. I've played MH4U and Generations and was looking forward to Double Cross localisation myself. This has nothing to do with console warring on my behalf. But EVERY thread has someone bringing up XX not getting ported like it's relevant to every topic, and I'm at wits end with the childishness. I don't care if it's because they actually are Nintendo hardcore, just want the game to remain portable, or don't own any other platforms, they just need to stop ruining everyone else's day with the shitposting.

No, I haven't. Never really been into the Monster Hunter threads on this site until World's announcement and didn't own a 3DS to play MH3 so didn't really pay attention to it.

People lost their damned minds when MH4 was 3DS

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=30902644&postcount=66

Then again people always lose their minds when a valued game they are invested in moves platform to something else.

Case in point: Bayonetta.
 
I'm really not seeing how a game that features dragons mingling with tiny cat people is more aesthetically approachable than tapping into the dark fantasy aesthetic that's been popular since Game of Thrones and Skyrim blew up, but hey.

Where are the Felynes in the MHW footage?
 

The Hermit

Member
Let's not exaggerate, consuming a Cool Drink / Energy Drink / meat every five minutes or so is not insurmountable.

Another issue for new players are the overwhelmingly complicated weapon attacks. The "control charts" on CAPCOM's website are hilarious:

I though it was a parody lol

Jesus Christ Capcom.

Still, I remember I had to watch a couple of tutorial videos to understand how the dual blade demon/archdemon worked.

Still on the fence about World though
 

Defuser

Member
Man it got heated in here. I'll just say that I'm excited to play World and hope it does well. I'm curious how the DLC path will be for World.
It will be probably the same as how they do promtional weapons with famitsu/Dengeki.etc

And they will probably do a season pass where the big DLC would be G-rank with new/old monsters.
 

JP_

Banned
I think capcom knows the move to modern consoles won't happen overnight. MHW sales might take a bit of a hit at first but they can build it back up overtime. The future of the franchise is bigger than one game.

They can't stay on 3DS forever -- the fact that the best selling game is on PSP suggests to me that the game's sales were actually held back by staying on weak hardware. It's been like 10 years and the game looks and feels mostly the same. It felt to me like the series had stagnated -- sure, there's been refinements, but look at what other games have done in a decade and MH looks kind of silly. All this plus the fact that handheld gaming has changed since the PSP days suggests to me that moving to modern consoles could very well be a great move in the long run. Larger global install base will help a lot, longtime fans that weren't impressed with the 3DS games will have a reason to jump back in, and a fresh new monster hunter is a great opportunity to pick up new fans. Exciting times.

And I'm sure some of the backlash is from purists that can't imagine playing monster hunter with updated mechanics, but it also definitely feels like console wars play a big part. There's a lot of assumptions about the series' sales being safer on Switch -- somehow moving to PS4/PC/XBO is some huge gamble but moving to Switch isn't? Uhhh, what? And for some reason, a lot of people think the series was niche on PSP and 3DS made it into the success it is today, but it actually sold best on PSP. Then they changed it to "in the west" but mhgen us/eu sales aren't better than mhfu's so it's not like there's a clear growth (4U did see a bump but they didn't stick around). In fact, Tri on wii sold better in the west than every game except 4U, suggesting home consoles might be the place to be in the west. It might be risky for Japanese sales, but again, they can't stay on 3DS forever so I'm not sure they had an option there. At least in the long run, PS4/PC/XBO definitely feels safer to me than sticking on 3DS much longer or moving exclusively to Switch. If it's not console fanboyism, maybe it's just lazy thinking (portable = super sales, console = bomba).
 

Ridley327

Member
In the most recent footage, Palico was in the base tent when the player swapped weapons. Not sure if that's your house Palico or your battle Palico that waits there because 4 players are around.

He was wearing armor and had a weapon, and I'm pretty sure that they confirmed Palicos were available for solo players already.
 

Ryuuga

Banned
People lost their damned minds when MH4 was 3DS

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=30902644&postcount=66

Then again people always lose their minds when a valued game they are invested in moves platform to something else.

Case in point: Bayonetta.


We know the situation but something going from multiplatform to platform-exclusive will always elicit that kind of response. I guess in the case of MH too because there should've been no reason MH4 could not have graced both handhelds at the time.
 
Man it got heated in here. I'll just say that I'm excited to play World and hope it does well. I'm curious how the DLC path will be for World.
Well up till now what have they done dlc wise for mh? Ideally I'd love the destiny/witcher 3 expansion model(the latter more so). But capcom and dlc has been iffy at best
 
I though it was a parody lol

Jesus Christ Capcom.

Still, I remember I had to watch a couple of tutorial videos to understand how the dual blade demon/archdemon worked.

Still on the fence about World though

It's a stupidly obtuse franchise in a sense when it comes learning and using weapons. Even the weapon tutorials in 4U left a lot to be desired. It will be interesting to see if the streamline any of it.
 

Eolz

Member
It would help if there was some sort of crossplay, especially since they've spent the past gen saying they didn't want to divide userbases in MonHun multiplayer...

4 million is definitely do-able.

Those are Souls numbers when you factor in all of the platforms. And MHW is more aesthetically approachable w/ the dinosaurs and open-world format.

4M is doable, but not particularly realistic currently.
You have to look at the market in Japan and the performance of those titles on consoles in the west.

Japan has XX this august in the portable space and who knows what MHW will sell there

At the very least Japan is going to continue to have access to everything in the near future

Western setup is a bit more messy but at least with PC support the option for portable play opens up

Do you honestly think that a laptop is something able to replace a handheld for portability?
It's like talking about the mobile version lol. The PC version will sell thanks to its usual strong points (free online, better graphics, controls options, etc), nothing else.
 
We know the situation but something going from multiplatform to platform-exclusive will always elicit that kind of response. I guess in the case of MH too because there should've been no reason MH4 could not have graced both handhelds at the time.

That was the hill i died on back then and it sucked

This new generation feels like a fresh start but it is a shame that it has to be coupled with bad news
 

Ridley327

Member
Well up till now what have they done dlc wise for mh? Ideally I'd love the destiny/witcher 3 expansion model(the latter more so). But capcom and dlc has been iffy at best

Thus far, it's just been in-game content that's on a timer release, be it the events they did in Tri or the unlock keys for additional quests in the portable games. It's fairly uncharted territory in terms of support from this point forward, so I'm not exactly hoping for the best with how Capcom has been handling DLC for their other titles in recent memory. I would really like to be wrong, though!

Like, really, really, really wrong!
 

Rncewind

Member
Do you honestly think that a laptop is something able to replace a handheld for portability?
It's like talking about the mobile version lol. The PC version will sell thanks to its usual strong points (free online, better graphics, controls options, etc), nothing else.

Then buy Win GDP
 

BitStyle

Unconfirmed Member
It's a stupidly obtuse franchise in a sense when it comes learning and using weapons. Even the weapon tutorials in 4U left a lot to be desired. It will be interesting to see if the streamline any of it.
I hope they do, because Capcom does a godawful job with tutorials and content focused on easing new players in. They need to nail this in World if they truly want to grow their base meaningfully.
 
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