There is no doubt in the power of the Monster Hunter series. Known for their difficulty, and cooperative gameplay, Monster Hunter started out as a cult series in the west before ultimately carving its niche in the world. While the popularity of the series did not explode in our side of the world until Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate , Japan has loved the series since the start. To this day this continues to be the case as the games continue to break the millions in sales in their home country. This is unlike North America where the series reaches nowhere near those numbers. Despite this, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate sold a respectable .71 million units in North America alone, and managed to become the best selling game in the franchise to date.
Thanks in part to this, fans of the series rejoiced and celebrated the success of one of their favorite game series. They couldn't wait until the next iteration of the franchise, and fan-hype was at an all time high. When Capcom announced Monster Hunter X (pronounced cross) in Japan, fans in the west went wild as Capcom failed to announce plans for release in their side of the world. Fans on Twitter began using the hashtags #MHXforthewest and #MHXtothewest asking Capcom to change their stance. Whether the campaign succeeded or not, the fans got what they wanted, and Capcom announced the release of Monster Hunter Generations.
But, as the late Satoru Iwata once said, "a signature on a petition does not equal a sale". This is a statement uttered when Nintendo was asked, why they refused to port over Xenoblade Chronicles. True to life, Monster Hunter Generations only sold .31 million copies in North America. When asked about the reasons for the lack of sales some fans responded with:
-Lack of content
-A lack of new features
-Erratic Difficulty
-Lack of player availability
Now, there is an explanation for the distinct lack of content to MHG; Capcom normally releases an "incomplete" copy of the game before launching the full version. This is par for the course, but the last time they did this in the west was probably with Monster Hunter Tri, which saw a re-release in the form Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate. While this trend is popular in Japan, where both titles sold extremely well, on our side of the world it doesn't yield as positive results. Fans of the series in Japan are used to this behavior and as such don't really expect the "full" game with each new version. Hence, the North America fans were left feeling "betrayed" by a series they hold in high esteem. But, what does this all mean for us?
The answer is simple, either Monster Hunter XX prints money for Capcom or it will finally mark the end of the fad for fans in the Western Hemisphere. While I have no doubt that the series will survive in Japan. I'm pretty certain that the majority of players who got in on the Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate frenzy have moved on towards different games. These days, games that are purposely challenging are more common-place with even the latest Zelda joining in on the fun. Monster Hunter no longer has that particular niche for itself, and perhaps it's time to just move forward. Does this mean the series is bad? No, not at all, it's just that gamers are a fickle group. What is popular now, might not be popular in a month or a year.
The important thing to remember is all the crazy good times that were had when facing a 1000 pound enraged gorilla that can become a super sayian. Plus, the series will probably continue to enjoy a healthy life in Japan.