The highly anticipated launch ofMonster Hunter Wildsisn’t just a success for developer and publisher Capcom – it’s a smash hit, setting records on Steam.Monster Hunterhas long been a beloved series, but it’s only risen to prominence in recent years, withWildsalready reaching unprecedented heights on launch day. The creature-battling action RPG has even surpassed recent phenomena likeElden RingandBaldur’s Gate 3,cracking the top 10 for all-time highest concurrent players on Steam.
Monster Hunter Wildsjust launched today, February 28, but has alreadyreached a peak concurrent player count of a staggering 1,307,976, according toSteamDB. Recent beloved RPGsElden RingandBaldur’s Gate 3accomplished similarly impressive numbers, but both have been easily surpassed byWilds.
Exceeding 1.3 million concurrent players is the sixth-best all-time concurrent player count in Steam history, behindPUBG: Battlegrounds,Black Myth: Wukong,Palworld,Counter-Strike 2, andLost Ark. Thelast mainline game in the series wasMonster Hunter: World, which reached an all-time peak of 334,684, almost one million players fewer.
Monster Hunter Wilds Is Already A Numbers Success
One Of The Most Popular Games Ever Released On Steam
The release ofMonster Hunter Wildswas eagerly awaited, but such incredible player numbers on launch day exceeded expectations. Accumulating one million more concurrent players thanWorldever had is astounding, consideringWorldis the series entry generally regarded asMonster Hunter’s big break.Wildsis also well above the performance ofMonster Hunter Rise, the series' most recent spin-off.Risecrucially released on the Nintendo Switch first, before coming to PC almost a year later.
Steam is notably only a single platform;Monster Hunter Wildswas also released on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, so the total concurrent player count is conceivably much higher than 1.3 million across all platforms.
Wilds' concurrent player peak is well above the likes ofElden Ring’s 953,426 peak concurrent players andBaldur’s Gate 3’s 875,343, and both of those titles are considered among thebest games of all time. They were both notable pop culture phenomena, seeing great community support through word-of-mouth. Interestingly,Monster Hunter Wildsreached its current peak around 14:00 UTC, or 9:00am Eastern Time, on a Friday. This is late in the evening in Japan, where Capcom has a sizable audience, butWildsmay reach even higher concurrent player numbers over the weekend as players in the U.S. hop in.
What Fans Are Saying
Steam Reviews Are Mixed
Despite the incredible statistics,Monster Hunter Wildsis receiving considerable flak from user reviews onSteam, where it’s been given a “Mixed” designation thanks to only 51 percent of the reviews being positive.Wildshas widespread reports of crashingand poor performance generally. Some of the performance issues were known ahead of release, concerning the prospective playerbase that tried one ofWilds' open betas. Capcom released a benchmark tool on theMonster Hunterwebsite to hopefully mitigate concerns regarding PC specs, but the Steam reviews are filled with complaints of bugs and poor optimization.
Monster Hunter Wilds Review: Heading In A Bold New Direction, With One Or Two Missteps
Monster Hunter Wilds is a lushly beautiful and ceaselessly thrilling entry in the series, but its performance and on-rails story can be distracting.
Performance was an issue with one of Capcom’s last major releases as well, the otherwisewonderfulDragon’s Dogma 2. Both it andMonster Hunter Wildsrun on Capcom’s proprietary RE Engine, butWilds' unprecedented scope for theMonster Hunterseries may also be a contributing factor – it’s the first title in the franchise to be fully open-world. Capcom clearly has a hit on its hands withMonster Hunter Wilds, but subpar performance may jeopardize its ability to keep this incredible launch-day momentum going forward.
Sources:SteamDB,Jake Lucky/Twitter,Steam,Monster Hunter
Monster Hunter Wilds
Monster Hunter Wilds is the highly anticipated follow-up to Capcom’s multi-million seller, Monster Hunter World. Announced at The Game Awards 2023, Monster Hunter Wilds will put players into a sprawling world where they’ll hunt monsters to create new weapons and armor while protecting their home base and uncovering the secrets of unexplored lands with friends or alone.
