Capcom has surprised Monster Hunter fans by revealing they have one extra update planned for Monster Hunter Rise.
As reported by The Gamer, Title Update 5 will be releasing as scheduled this week. This update was expected to be the final update for the game as whole.
Capcom also shared a new trailer, revealing Amatsu and Risen Shagaru Magala. These are the monsters that will be appearing alongside Title Update 5.
And then, Capcom revealed at the end of this trailer that they will be releasing one final update, with one last monster coming for Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak this coming June. Capcom has not shared more details on what will be arriving with this update.
Capcom has seen considerable success with Monster Hunter Rise, continuing the momentum begun by Monster Hunter World before it. Its launch, exclusive to the Nintendo Switch, hit a record four million units sold after only three days.
This Switch release was high profile for both Nintendo and Capcom. Part of the marketing push were three new Monster Hunter Amiibo, a special edition Nintendo Switch bundle, a Super Smash Bros Ultimate related Monster Hunter event, and a free demo. Demand for the demo spiked so much that the Nintendo eShop would suffer brief outages.
A Steam release followed in a few months, and the game hit eight million units sold a day after that launch. Both the Steam and Nintendo Switch versions would receive an update to Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak.
Monster Hunter Rise is now also available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S. This includes Game Pass and Xbox’s Cloud Save features, but these versions will not be updated to Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak until this April 28.
Capcom’s announcement is interestingly timed a few days after they revealed Monster Hunter Now, a new augmented reality game for mobile. This game is being produced with Niantic Labs, the developers behind Pokemon Go, and will be the biggest mainstream push the franchise has ever received.
It is possible that Capcom will be dedicating their Monster Hunter team to Monster Hunter Now for the next few months, even years. I am sure there will be Monster Hunter fans who will object to this; even among hardcore gamers, Monster Hunter fans occupy a smaller niche who enjoy its steeper difficulty curve.
But, much like Nintendo, Capcom is likely hoping they can find mobile fans they can turn into hardcore fans, to buy the next mainline Monster Hunter game on PC, console, or cloud.
