Monster Hunter Wilds seems set to be the first video game blockbuster of 2025.
As logged on SteamDB, the game reached a peak of 1,110,210 concurrent players, one hour after it became available to play on Steam. We’ve shared a screenshot of SteamDB for you below, but we expect those player numbers to keep going up through the weekend.
It’s a very impressive debut for the onetime niche PlayStation action title, which found a loyal audience on Nintendo’s platforms, and would fully cross over to become a mainstream hit when it debuted on PC.
Capcom’s hunting simulation is also coming in after receiving great critical reception. It reached a MetaCritic score of 90 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, and 88 on PC. Subsequently, it has an OpenCritic Mighty rating, with a top critic average of 89, and 95 % of critics recommending the game.
As you may have noted, those scores register for what’s a very good game, but not quite one that may make it to the end of year GOTY nominations. So what’s going on? It seems the consensus among reviewers is Capcom takes some steps back in making the game more accessible to newer players even yet again. These choices don’t ruin the game at all, but they do hold it back from that sought after unanimous critical acclaim.
But then again, the game industry does not always reward the best rated games with the most sales. The hype for Monster Hunter Wilds, that’s built up as a consequence of waiting for the version of the game for this console generation, was enough to get its player numbers soaring.
As one can imagine, it’s highly likely that player numbers are also high on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, as Capcom sought to meet player’s expectations on performance in balancing out framerate and resolution. That’s true of all SKUs on all consoles, and they promised to also get the game PlayStation 5 Pro certified.
As for right now, it isn’t entirely clear if Monster Hunter Wilds will come to the Switch 2. As it turns out, Capcom still has to study that console’s hardware first! But here and now, Capcom’s hard work in getting their signature hunting action game up to date with current generation hardware is a certain success. All that remains is for everyone to crunch the numbers, and of course, to start hunting those monsters.
