It's no secret that Monster Hunter 4 has been a significant success in Japan, quickly surpassing Capcom's sales projections and capturing the imagination of 3DS owners in the country; it's now hit another major sales landmark to emphasize its success on Nintendo's portable system.
Capcom has confirmed that the title has surpassed four million units shipped, which tellingly also includes POS (point of sales) download cards and purchases directly from the 3DS eShop. This success has also taken the overall sales of the franchise beyond 28 million units. To emphasize the cultural impact the game is having in Japan, Capcom outlined various events taking place in Japan for the game.
The highly successful "Monster Hunter 4" features many new elements that have generated a strong response among game players. For example, this is the first game in "Monster Hunter" series with dimensional action that exploits differences in height. This game also uses the Internet to offer a multiplayer capability. Moreover, marketing activities have employed a variety of promotions. There are collaborations with companies in the food and beverage, apparel and other categories outside the game sector. Capcom staged the "Monster Hunter Festa '13" in five cities across Japan that had total attendance of 48,500. There are also TV commercials with celebrities and many other activities. The resulting support over a broad range of user segments has propelled sales of "Monster Hunter 4" to more than 4 million units only about two and a half months after the launch.
More events are planned to create even greater interest in this game. One is the ongoing "Monster Hunter 4 in Nanja Town", an event held in collaboration with a partner that allows visitors to enjoy a hunting experience. Starting in February 2014, Capcom will use a tie-up with Universal Studios Japan to hold an event called "Monster Hunter the Real 2014". There is also a regional revitalization campaign with Shibu hot spring resort in Nagano prefecture. Capcom plans to continue to use a variety of promotional activities in order to further increase the value of the "Monster Hunter" brand.
Naturally we hope that this success will prompt Capcom to give the franchise another opportunity to crack the West; hopefully 2014 will deliver just that. The company is diverting some Monster Hunter 4 profits to a small studio focused on smartphone software, but reinvesting parts of money made is pretty standard for any business.
We're waiting, Capcom.
[source capcom.co.jp, via gematsu.com]
Comments 33
Ok, so it's the best selling MH game ever! Please bring it to the west!
So has MH4 sold more units in Japan than the Wii U has sold units worldwide?
That is incredible! Now, as the rest of the MH community says, NA please!!!
@eza
The Wii U has surpassed 4 million worldwide
This will be 2014 3ds trump for the west.
Please bring it to the EU ! Really happy for their success.
This is an amazing looking game! I'm pretty surprised by the sales too! I just hope it'll come to NA and EU.
So if Nintendo wants to save the Wii U you can add MH to Pokemon and Animal Crossing to the list of games that need to be on the system. Though I honestly don't see AC as a home console kind of game. Maybe in MMO format. I don't play any MMOs or AC but I think I can see how AC might work as one. Something along the lines of Free Realms. I don't trust Nintendo to make an MMO though, it will need to be outsourced.
Oh, and to all the people who always complain about BF and CoD, MH FOUR. I don't play any FPS games but the pot calling the kettle black always bugs me. And I'm guessing MH4 is actually more like 7 or 8 if you add in offshots and remakes. (wiki says make that 10 or 11)
Impressive, and it hasn't even gotten the holiday boost yet. At this pace, its lifetime skipments should easily exceed 5 million units in Japan.
It IS a great game! Imported it and don't regret anything about it!
If its this successful capcom would have to be stupid to not even try to send it to the west...or at least stupider than most view them
Hope they also bring it to Wii U. Make it happen Capcom!
That's like a 25% owner rate for the install base. That's crazy over there. Must be good to sell that many copies!
Now if only Capcom had a clue what to do with the rest of its IP.
Would you be a dear Capcom and bring Moster Hunter 4 to the West? Thank you.
I have a feeling they'll bring it to the west but rather than develop a Wii U version along side a localisation, I think they'll go the Ace Attorney Dual Destinies route and localize via eshop only to save as much money as possible
@crazyj2312 They Most likely will not bring it over to the west as much as i hate to admit it. Each Generation of monster hunter always have several iterations , and my guess in that in the West we are more unwilling to purchase every iteration of Monster Hunter in the same generation(at least thats capcoms thought). So we will see Monster Hunter 4G or something like that with a Wii U and 3DS release.
I wish this was not the case but its my guess based off of passed releases. But we can still pray, dont forget to use -#BringMH4totheWest
Crack the west? I thought they already sold pretty well over here as a bonus?
Wii U version now, and worldwide. Please.
@CountWavula Indeed. It's the only thing standing between Capcom and total bankruptcy right now.
Well, I really hope Capcom localizes it for NA/UK/Everywhere so we can have an excellent online experience my cousins and I have all determined our weapon classes, so I really hope it makes it here!!
Still waiting, Capcom.
Just about a million more till it surpasses Portable 3rd.
I expect mh4 in the West sometime in some form (digital only?) but I really doubt a wii u version. The cost of bringing it for 3ds over wii u should be abismal, furthermore, the install base of both systems is an important point. Although I would rather play it in a big screen
Just bring it to Wii U.... I want it for 3DS but the Wii U NEEDS this game.
@CountWavula You hit the nail on the head, Resi died when they tried to emulate and cater for the West too much. If they ever try that with MH it will have a brief surge of popularity and then become soulless and die slowly just like Resi.
So... US release?
bring this to wii-u next year along with animal crossing
See, this is why I want as many people as possible to try Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (preferrably on Wii U due to it's HD visuals and online capabilities) in the west. It's quite possibly the greatest game ever made (at the least, ranking in the top few), and is so amazingly fun and addictive with endless hours of content. This is actually one of the few games you could play for an entire console generation, and never even need to buy another game.
It's a game which requires intelligence, strategy, reflexes and skill, preparation, and everything else you would ever need to win a video game. I know there are many intelligent gamers in the west- gamers who need more than "simple" to hold their interest. I'm not sure why it hasn't caught on in the west yet.
Once you make your first armor set out of a monster's hide, fangs and claws, you're hooked for life. It just takes plowing through those first couple hours of relatively "dull" introduction to the game. But that introduction is necessary to ease the player into the game- there is WAY too much to learn all at once, and baby steps are necessary in order to learn the mechanics and basic gameplay concepts.
Stop suggesting they put Pokemon on home consoles, it's not going to happen and shouldn't. Animal Crossing on the other hand has actually been on home consoles so I don't see why that wouldn't work.
@Wolf_Link
Yikes! I hope not digital only. I would have to pass up on it. I'm a physical copy kinda guy. Heck it's the same reason I want nothing to do with Ace DD. The fact that in most circumstances you do not own the game and that it is tied to a system/cloud is appalling to me. I'm not one to pay for a game that dies with a system or is in a cloud that is supported at the whims of a company. If a system breaks you can replace it no big issue, but if as it stands if the system breaks then you are out the system and, for some people, upwards to thousands of dollars needlessly.
@JaxonH "Once you make your first armor set out of a monster's hide, fangs and claws, you're hooked for life." Damn right. I have spent +200 hours offline in MH3U just for one reason: every hunt it's a great hunt! Unfortunately, the demo didn't let the new players fell what you are saying...
Capcom needed this victory as much as 'the West' needs this game. With a proper demo (not showing it off to veterans without atracting new-comers) and some nice pre-order bonuses (in both EU en NA) I can't believe it could go wrong.
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