Ryozo Tsujimoto says 'not necessarily the case' Monster Hunter World will be a standard for franchise
The Capcom producer said that the 'most important thing' for the team was where they should take the Monster Hunter games next, and not comparing to World.
The popular video game franchise Monster Hunter will celebrate its 20th anniversary next year.
And while it has remained a favourite among players in its home country of Japan, the release of Monster Hunter World in 2018 broke that international glass ceiling as it saw the same popularity with players outside of Japan.
Case in point, it was revealed in June 2023 that Monster Hunter World is Capcom’s best-selling game of all time, followed by its successor Monster Hunter Rise.
During an interview with regional media at gamescom asia on 20 Oct, producer Ryozo Tsujimoto (the son of current Capcom CEO Kenzo Tsujimoto) explained that when it comes to making the game “attractive to the audience in general”, he’s not really thinking about the cultural difference between the player base but about how “every player will have similar experiences”.
Regardless of whether you’re playing it for the first time or you’re coming back to Monster Hunter as a veteran, Tsujimoto, 50, pointed out “core elements” - such as “great action” and “sense of achievement in accomplishing your first hunt” - that will “bind together players of any region” and make it fun for them.
He added, “Monster Hunter at the core of it is very much kind of a multiplayer experience so one of the best parts of experiencing the game is having all of the hunters come together and take down one monster.”
How the series' success shapes the future
So, considering the success of Monster Hunter World and Rise, does he feel any pressure moving forward and is this the benchmark he has set for himself?
In response to Yahoo Southeast Asia’s question, Tsujimoto replied that there is, of course, a non-zero amount of pressure but “the most important thing” for the future of the franchise is “where they (the team) should take it next”.
“So not really comparing it to World, but just how should this series evolve in the future; and depending on what they decide there, [then] challenging themselves to make the next games,” he said
Tsujimoto also clarified that it’s “not necessarily the case” that Monster Hunter World will become a standard for the franchise.
“It’s more so that Capcom as a company has a long history of developing good action games… [so] whether it’s a fighting game or whether it’s something like Monster Hunter, actually the core concepts of what makes a good action game are very similar,” Tsujimoto explained.
“So they can take the improvements they’ve made on, for instance, a fighting game that they just released, and kind of reflect that on improving Monster Hunter.”
Tsujimoto himself took time to showcase his Monster Hunter skills, headlining a special stage event at gamescom asia's Entertainment Zone on Saturday.
Joined on stage by three gaming influencers — Indonesian YouTube content creator The Jooomers, Malaysian caster and host TashBunny, and Japanese Twitch streamer HighGai, the quartet took on event quests from Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak!, the expansion to 2021's Monster Hunter Rise.
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