MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
The latest expansion for the console version of Monster Hunter World: Iceborne has shipped 2.5 million copies worldwide. In a press release, developer/publisher Capcom stated the series has “sparked a social phenomenon known as the ‘Monster Hunter Craze’ by introducing a new kind of communication style for players through cooperative play focused on hunting monsters with their friends”.
Launched in January 2018, Monster Hunter World shifted 5 million units during its opening weekend, hitting 7.5 million copies sold by March 31st and helping Capcom to double its profits and making the game Capcom’s biggest selling title of all-time. Now the “a mega-hit” game Monster Hunter World has hit 13.1 million units shipped as of June 30, 2019 – “the first title in Capcom’s history to achieve this record-high” – and reached cumulative sales of the series “exceeding 58 million units as of September 13th, 2019” owed in part to its release on PC.
Of course, Capcom’s recent success isn’t solely attributable to Monster Hunter World; Resident Evil VII, Resident Evil 2 (Remake), Monster Hunter XX on Switch (a Japan-only title), and Switch-exclusive Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers also contributed to Capcom’s recent solid fiscal performance.
In this most recent press release, Capcom stated it “remains firmly committed to satisfying the expectations of all stakeholders by leveraging its industry-leading game development capabilities in order to create highly entertaining gameplay experiences”.
Monster Hunter World: Iceborne is a newly released premium expansion for the vanilla game, featuring “a full narrative experience that continues from the ending of MH:W, bringing players to a vast new area known as the Hoarfrost Reach”.
Koei Tecmo Games was recently ordered to pay Capcom almost $1.5 million in compensation after a court agreed that Koei Tecmo had infringed upon two of Capcom’s patent. The ¥157 million settlement – which consists of ¥144m in damages and ¥13.1m in legal fees – follows a court case that was filed in 2014 accusing Koei Tecmo of infringing upon Patent #3350773 (Patent A) and Patent #3295771 (Patent B). Initially, the courts threw out the Patent A claim, but a ruling from the Intellectual Property High Court has reversed that decision and now recognises that Capcom’s patents were infringed upon.
