Capcom Says It's Unable To Add Cross-Save And Cross-Play To Monster Hunter Rise

Ouch, that’s gonna sting for the sales department since cross-save is the big reason people allow themselves to double dip.

Bit of a shame but Switch save files will be compressed wayyyy more than the PC ones. Probably would be a massive pain.

@nessisonett shouldn’t a pc be able to decompress a save file more easily than a switch?

I knew they would failed.

So my incentive to double-dip is gone. Not a deal breaker for me and the Switch version runs perfectly fine. Looking forward to another 300+ hours on the OLED.

Now this is concerning. At the same time, it very much so implies that Monster Hunter Rise on the PC will be a whole different beast.

"Unable" was a poor choice of words. I don't believe that for a second.

I'm pretty sure this was the same case with World and Iceborne, so...

Not surprised.

I legit just deleted the game from my Switch. Couldn't stay interested. Don't know why MH never connected to me. Rise was definitely easier for me to play than some past installments, but I don't know... I tried to get into it. I can't imagine buying it again and starting over.

@Joeynator3000 I think it's not a matter of 'same cases'. Rather, I think it comes down to willingness to actually do it and of course cost implications for them. They did it with 3G/3U with the 3DS and Wii U so it's a matter of are they willing to do it again.

Looking at the PC trailer they're trying so hard to market the beefy features and they're confident people will be enticed and Switch owners would actually buy the game again; thinking implementing these features is just a waste of time and money.

I'm guessing the feature wasn't in their dev roadmap to begin with and they'd probably prefer to spend the remaining time making Sunbreak and the next MH installment. For what it's worth, they're actually banking on Steam Deck to do well so they have no cause for concern for potential double-dippers to not buy in the end. They're probably thinking "why should we put cross saves when there's literally a portable system that can play our PC version? We'll get money from that instead!" It all boils down to $$$.

Well, looks like I'm not getting the PC version.

"Unable to" or "unwilling to", Capcom?

@nessisonett I doubt that's the issue. My best guess as a programmer (albeit one who doesn't focus on games as my job) assume that either they are lying, or set up the save files differently (such as increased storage space and cross development). None are great reasons if something is a 1 to 1 port. But if it is cross developed maybe the other team expanded the save file for some reason (such as larger play areas or some such) or baring that they think they are mostly 2 separate groups and forcing 2 purchases will net them more cash.

If they ported it to Xbox, Microsoft will make it cross play with PC, Switch and PlayStation for free.

I mean ... I'm not 100% sure that option is open to Capcom or other AAA studios, but they offer it to all developers, as far as I know.

This was going to be the easiest double dip of my life if cross-save was realized. Definitely not now. Happily staying on Switch with the file I've already put hundreds of hours into.

I would have been shocked if they did enable it. Capcom likes money way more than being honest with their customers. MH:W isn't Cross anything that I'm aware of. Capcom went so far a couple year's ago to say that MH:W wouldn't run on the Switch, while developing MH:R that debatably looks better. Total shame, would have been nice for more PC/Switch cross-play. They're 'unable' to do anything that might cost them money.

@malcire As a programmer as well, my best guess is that they’re using a different compression method on PC and so they’ve deemed it isn’t worth their time. Or the PC saves have identifiers that aren’t passed on Switch for whatever reason.

I like Rise and all but I wasn’t going to double dip for a PC version rather it had cross play or not. One version will do for me.

In other words, Capcom are not bovvered.

That is unfortunate.

It'll be a completely fresh start on PC

LOL like heck it will.

I'm not starting a new save file after 450 hours in Rise, are you nuts?!!!

This wasn't a request. This was a mandatory feature for my purchase. I NEED Monster Hunter Rise to be hybrid. Being stuck on the TV on PC isn't an option. I need to be able to transfer my saves back and forth. I can't believe they're screwing us on this. Imagine how many Switch owners now won't double dip because they don't want to redo hundreds of hrs of playtime from their save file, and don't want to be stuck on a TV either. They could have had so many ppl double dipping.

Oh well. Preorder canceled. I don't need this.

Why ask this in the survey if its not possible?

@Williamfuchs420 Maybe they checked the survey results and saw the people who are willing to buy again even without cross save was much higher than the people who would buy again but only with said feature.

Basically it's us players versus their money and effort. They're probably looking at Steam Deck and saying "hey that's coming out. let's scrap the cross save idea and just focus on selling our PC version". lol

I'm unable to buy it again, I wouldn't play from the ground even for free

Just found out thanks to comments that mhw doesnt have crossplay , no wonder it takes too long nowdays to make a party

Would still be tempted a bit to start over being able to play at a crisp 60 FPS. I'd probably just roll a new weapon but I definitely wouldn't put as much time into it. The grind just wears on you after a while, especially with the stronger monsters.

Why did they put it into the survey about Sunbreak's announcement then??

Hey. Capcom. Maybe check if you can do a thing before you put it in your survey?

Either way this now swung to an absolutely no for me. I would’ve 100% double dipped if we got cross saves, and had they not even asked our input then there was a chance I’d still double dip because of the visual upgrade and the chance for mods. But now I feel misled. It’s for the best, no point in starting over after 300 hours of Rise.

It's possible for other games, so it's just a poor excuse. They knew from the beginning that people would love cross save, so implement it from the beginning and be happy about double dippers later. I planned to play it again on PC, but I'm not willing to start again.
Same issue with Witcher 3. It has cross save function to PC, but not PS5. I want to play it again when the PS5 update arrives, but not really want to start from scratch...

I don’t believe it. There’s plenty of games with cross save and prove they can do it. Witcher 3 integrates with steam and gog so I don’t wanna hear they can’t figure it out. That’s total lies.

Being a gamedev and a programmer I really doubt it's impossible, MH just stores some basic info (inventory, exp, statistics) and these are just numbers. Capcom would need to dip on servers to hold that data, tho.

EDIT: Calrification: Actually all the saved data in any game are just numbers, but if we don't have to save position of player, enemies, map state, then there's just much less of that data.

@malcire

As they cooperate with Steam the Issue truly stays within getting the Data from a Nintendo Network to the Steam one.

I think they don't want to spend the Money.

Might be a reason that PC gamers wouldn't like starting from scratch when switch users are already way ahead of them. Just a thought :/

Well guess it's a no go on the PC version maybe if it's on a deep discount. We've seen other AAA developers do it and even some indies. It's something totally possible if they really want to.

Episode 999 in lazy developers saying stupid things that ultimately hurt their sales.

There is absolutely no reason why it's not possible.

More like unwilling to do so. MH Rise already uses internet connection to grab event data. Capcom has a huge network infrastructure for a ton of their games. A simple server that handles logging in from within the game (no even need for an account, the game could generate a code that it later uses to authenticate with it) and then grabs the save data off of console/PC and when you log using the same ID on the other console/PC it downloads it. It's absolutely not hard for them to do, they just either don't want to or Nintendo told them 'no'.
I mean, the goddamn Witcher 3 has cross saves between Switch and PC.

"Unable to" is always a very bad position to put yourself into.
Especially when it comes to things others have already done.
Divinity OS2 for instance had no issues integrating their cross-save functionality.

This does sound like Capcom either thinks it's not financially viable enough to support save transfer servers for a handful of double dippers (If i remember correctly, they even encouraged people to show support for that feature, so it probably didn't create the resonance they expected) or they genuinely messed up something and truly can't import the save file to another system...
Personally, i place my bets on the former:
The switch version had a bombastic start. It's a game that was always strongest on a handheld.
Maybe they just don't see the potential of enough double dippers to warrant the server costs.

Not surprised by the answer. It was nice to see the question asked during the survery but we all knew Capcom wouldn't deliver. My only reason to double dip would be 2 things.

1) Cross-play/Cross save feature.
2) My friends getting the PC version.

Seems like my 2nd reason would be a reason to double dip.

Crossplay was going to be the thing that pumped a bit of life back into the game after many players have moved on. It would have been the perfect encouragement for the players who have abandoned to pre order sunbreak.

I really need to stop reading the comments on this site. Seems like almost every article there's some armchair 'expert' calling out publishers for lying or being lazy or greedy.
They've made a statement that they can't do it - why not take that at face value?
I mean, if they were really trying to be greedy then surely they'd just say nothing in the hope people would buy the PC version assuming there'd be cross play/saves - or at least hoping it would be added later. If anything, not adding it is likely to lose them sales if people are not going to double-dip.

@nessisonett That doesn't make any sense.

It's the exact same game, so the save file will store the exact same data.

That is big loss to them, because from me considering to buy both copies with all DLCs now I consider buy non.

So Hades and the Witcher 3 made it work, but companies like SQenix (DQXIS) and Capcom can't make it work for their games. Okay...

@dmcc0
Because out of any art medium: Games and the people that play them are severely taken for a ride. I wouldn't have cared if Capcom had simply said: "Not worth the resources" but they said: "Unable" which is complete BS.

@Jeronan That’s just not true. The game’s being ported and PCs store data differently from the Switch. Save files have a specific structure on Switch compared to PCs.

I was excited to play this on my steam deck. Oh well.

@Aya-chan Taken for a ride in what way?
And you've kinda just proved my point - unless you actually worked on this game you have no idea if it's possible or not. You're just throwing around baseless accusations.

This doesn’t bother me in the least as I’m not interested in this game. I will say that storage methods can always be “reverse-engineered” or migrated to other platforms. While I admit I have no basis for my theory, I willing to take a blind guess and suggest the save file on the switch is possibly encrypted with a switch-specific key. Allowing the cross-save to work on another platform means that the key would also have to be copied over. If that key is used to protect something else, then the impact of getting to that key could be seen as too significant for the potential risk involved. Although they could always ‘export’ the save file in the clear. So who knows.

As I said, though, it’s just another theory.

@nessisonett That has nothing to do with Cross-save. The actual data is the same. It doesn't matter its stored differently on Switch than on PC.
That is the point I am trying to make, since this is no different than all the other games that support cross-save/cross-play.

With cross-save, they would need to store save data in a central database that syncs between different platforms.

Studios that don't want to host this themselves due to cost, often resort to using Steam or GoG for example like Witcher 3 and Divinity Original Sin 2 do with cross-saves.

So this is all on Capcom being utterly lazy as usual. They release the game on Steam, so they could have used Steam for cross-save profiles.

@dmcc0
Several (very expensive) editions of games, microtransactions, loot boxes, broken and rushed releases, going back on promises, abuse allegations. No other industry has this many problems. Music, books and movies are nowhere as bad when it comes to taking the p*ss out of the consumer base.

I've played enough games of a much higher hardware caliber than Rise to know this wouldn't be a massive undertaking. They just don't want to, I'd give em some some slack but they lie and say it's not possible.

Also, you really shouldn't have undying faith in a multimillion dollar corporation. They would love you to just blindly buy everything they put out and take advantage of you.

@Aya-chan I agree. By this point in proceedings I think it’s just responsible to be critical of anything we’re told by publishers. Time and again they’ve evidenced they can’t be trusted, as far as I’m concerned the time for giving the benefit of the doubt is long gone. Bitter/10

@Kid_Sickarus
Thanks, you've said that a lot better than I could. I'm not trying to chastise dmcc0, I'm really not.

I don't believe Capcom on this, we have had instances of moving MH saves from one system to another. The only reason I can think they won't is because of fhe DLC in the game (I also mean the timed events). Don't want people having access to that content before they release it.

@Aya-chan Well, the movie and music industries are always re-releasing anniversary/special editions of older stuff, and you have to buy it again if you want it on a newer format too, so no difference there really. They are companies trying to maximise profits after all - if you don't like it don't buy them.

The abuse accusations are not relevant to whether the customer base is being ripped off and it's by no means exclusive to the gaming industry - see Harvey Weinstein etc.

I'm not blindly believing what they say, but the default of many seems to be that every time a publisher says something they're lying. In this case there's no benefit to Capcom coming out and saying they can't do it - they'd actually be better of just saying nothing or giving some vague response about trying to add it later. I suspect they're going to lose a fair chunk of sales because of it.

You do realise playing other games with cross save doesn't necessarily mean that all games can do it?

@Neonix Well yes but at the same time, Capcom probably just can’t be bothered.

Kind of shocked Capcom is “unable” to make cross save work. Doubtful Nintendo would even care about save files going from a Switch to Steam.

Crapcom sprays on Monster Hunter fans?

They recently came out and said that MH and Resident evil would basically be computer focused from here on out.

Looks like they're trying to push that transition.

Sorry, just switch MH Rise for me.

@Zyph what woulda been cool is is local play with switch and steam deck that would make more people buy it but they are losing out on some things going forward well it’s there choice. Maybe they just want to see how many people buy and then ad cross play that shouldn’t be out of the question.

@Jeronan

I don't disagree with your overall position, but these points are completely false to the point where I wonder what's informing your opinion.

Data storage and how you format your save is C-O-M-P-L-E-T-L-Y different, on multiple levels, based on platform.

The memory architecture can sometime necessitate a specific read/right order for optimization which is different on each system. An example of this is Stardew Valley which had 90 second save/load times on launch because of this. And that's just one of the problems this can cause!

Heck, I'm pretty sure I can tell you exactly why it would be difficult for Monster Hunter. Your save data isn't a 1:1 representation of the game state, it's arguments that get fed into functions to reconstruct an approximation. This might mean an offset is stored for every object you've moved, it might mean your past actions simply effect procedural generation, or the game might simply discard some information (like not saving the location of a dropped item). Games like Subnautica use completely different functions to create the game state on switch due to it's limitations, and so the save data doesn't even resemble what it looks like on PC. Given the open world nature of Monster Hunter, this is likely the issue's they are running into ... the PC is likely storing a TON of locational and positional offsets that the switch dosn't bother with.

In my opinion, calling Capcom "lazy" is a pretty inaccurate use of personification. It's always a call based on cost/benefit. I bet in discovery they found out the people who worked on saves for the PC game and the Switch game are in completely different units, maybe even outsourced, to the point where getting them together to hammer this out wouldn't be practical and/or the code is poorly documented. Then they decided the value added to the game wasn't worth the price.

Now you can disagree with that, but without seeing the price tag that's an uninformed opinion. I remember a project where because the game was using old function libraries, wasn't documented inline, had zero off line documentation, and the code in question was worked on by people who weren't around any more, the price tag to add "colour blind mode" was more then the game cost to produce in the first place.

It sucks and we might not like it, but sometimes things just can't be done.

@Neonix

Look honestly, no offence whatsoever, but I'm not really sure what happened here. My post includes not only the exact technical reason this is likely happening, but is extremely clear that possible and impossible are irrelevant, it's simply about how much it costs and if it's wroth the price. Neither of us know the price so we can't make an intelligent, informed comment on if that opinion is reasonable.

It's also silly to make a comparison like "this game did it, so this other game can do it". As I explained, the complexity and cost is based on how the individual game deals with storage, what the save state looks like, and the functions used to generate the world. A Hades save file could be plain text, it only records a finite number of variation, listing all of them (mirror and contractor unlocks and values, currency, plot flags, weapon unlocks, relationship status) is likely less then 100 lines. You can't compare that to an open world game with a save file that can be over a gigabyte in size because it tracks an infinite number of possible player modification to the world. Like I said, this type of save is a set of arguments to functions that are going to be machine dependent.

There is no hidden agenda here, no contractual obligation, and no reason to not take the press release at face value. Like I said, I've been involved in projects to add "simple" features to games that ended up being so cost prohibitive it couldn't be done because of things that are completely invisible and unknowable to anyone who wasn't on the project.

Technically, it's 100% possible for you to give me all your money, your house, car and all other assist you own in exchange for me writing a really nice Haiku for you. But you're not going to, because you don't think it would be worth that price, which is not flexible or open to negotiation. Therefor, it's impossible for you to buy my Haiku.

@Neonix

You should have just said you're option is set in stone and you are not willing to have it informed by someone who's literally done the thing we are talking about because you edited some hex values. I mean, you're clearly not going to inform my opinion because ... again, I've literally done this, so there is no point in this conversation.

I mean I could explain how offset data vs. global data is the reason why the 5-10 MB file is worthless to cross play on it's own (actually I already did that) and it's why some games take a fair amount of time at first boot up to make a save file that maintains a constant size, but you didn't really read the first post and took "Up to a gigabyte" to mean "multiple terabytes", so you're clearly not interested in new information.

Congratulations on proving you are "right" rather then informing your opinion. I present you with one internet!

What I am hearing is "It is not in the budget." from that explination. No cross saves, no pc versiom for me.

@HeadPirate I don't need your lengthy explanation of different code language / platforms.

You didn't even bother reading my post. I said the "actual" user data is the same across platforms. It's the exact same game, so the user data itself is the same. That it gets stored differently on each platform, that is a given.

That is why other developers use cloud saves for cross-platform/cross-save, like Steam cloud profiles, etc.

I mean.... even a game like Bloons TD6 offers cross-saves via all platforms.

So yes, it's Capcom that is both lazy and ignorant. They simply don't care. It was the same deal with Monster Hunter World. A game that was developed from ground up and only released on PC, PS and XBox and also didn't have Cross-play and Cross-save. For this game there was simply no excuse.

Capcom just needs to pull their finger out their rear end and get on with the times.

And for your information. Both Divinity Original Sin 2 and Witcher 3 were old games that were only recently ported to Nintendo Switch. They had no cross-save features either at their original launch years ago. Yet these developers went out of their way, listened to their customers and used the Steam API/GoG API to offer cross-save to the Nintendo Switch via Steam/GoG cloud profile sync.

Pure *****!!!!!