It seems that transitioning the Monster Hunter series from a handheld/local play experience into a big budget console title has paid off for Capcom, as they have announced that Monster Hunter World is their best-selling game of all time.

Capcom has revealed in a press release that Monster Hunter World has shipped over 7.5 million units across the world. These sales take into account both digital and physical copies of the game that have been sold for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

These numbers will likely see a huge increase later on this year when the PC version of Monster Hunter World is set to be released. A solid release date has yet to be set, with only "Autumn 2018" being promised so far.

via.PushSquare.com

Monster Hunter World originally seemed like a gamble on Capcom's part when the game was first announced in 2017. The series had been a cultural phenomenon in Japan during the PlayStation Portable era, but interest in the Monster Hunter games diminished as time went on. The Monster Hunter series was also only ever a cult hit outside of Japan, though the Nintendo 3DS entries in the series helped the games to find a larger audience.

The Monster Hunter games have always had a high barrier to entry, due to the numerous mechanics at play that has been poorly explained in earlier Monster Hunter titles. The PlayStation Portable Monster Hunter games would throw reams of text boxes at you and hoped they stuck.

via: VG247.com

Monster Hunter has always been a community experience, which was often the best way to get into the game, as being tutored by a more experienced player was way more help than the terrible in-game explanations. Monster Hunter World abandoned the local play aspect of the series, which it had become known for.

Monster Hunter World cut away a lot of the chaff that had been dragging the series down for a while now and made it more accessible to new players. While the older fans complained about the changes at first, there is no denying that they have paid off. Monster Hunter World is now a huge success for Capcom, which can only help the game in the long run.

Monster Hunter Trademark Header
Via: free.wallpaperbackgrounds.com

Now that Monster Hunter World is a success, it means great things for the new content coming to the game. Capcom now has more of an incentive to add more content to the game, which may result in a paid G-Rank update in the future. The success of the game may also prompt other developers to agree to character crossovers, in the same vein as the Aloy and Ryu skins.

Monster Hunter World has proven that there is still life left in the series and that hunting giant creatures so that you can make a hat out of their skin is more popular than anyone realized.