Image: Capcom
Capcom's fastest-selling title ever continues to rack up sales records, especially in its home country of Japan.
Monster Hunter Wilds' explosive launch continues to rack up more records. The latest mainline entry in Capcom's classic Monster Hunter series now also holds the record for the biggest physical launch of any game on the PlayStation 5 so far.
Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu revealed on Thursday (6 March) that Monster Hunter Wilds racked up over 601,000 physical sales on the PS5 from its launch date on 28 February up to 2 March, with Famitsu's list tracking sales from 24 February to 2 March. For reference, the record for the biggest physical launch for a PS5 game was previously held by Square Enix's Final Fantasy 16, which sold over 336,000 copies when it launched back in 22 June, 2023 en route to achieving just under 430,000 total sales in that year.
Monster Hunter Wilds' sales figures also dwarfed all other entries in Famitsu's list, with the next highest sellers being Yu-Gi-Oh! Early Days Collection at over 49,800 copies and Wizardry Gaiden Five Trials at just under 12,000 copies, with both of those titles being on the Nintendo Switch.
The next PS5 game on the list, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii (or Yakuza 8 Gaiden: Pirates in Hawaii in Japan), sold just under 9,400 copies during the period tracked by Famitsu, out of over 77,600 total sales.
Monster Hunter Wilds' physical launch sales in Japan fall behind predecessors as players shift to digital copies
While Monster Hunter Wilds' physical launch numbers in its heartland in Japan are certainly impressive, it is worth noting that it sold significantly less than its predecessors, namely 2021's Monster Hunter Rise and 2018's Monster Hunter World. According to Famitsu, Monster Hunter Rise sold over 1.3 million physical copies on its main platform in the Nintendo Switch while Monster Hunter World sold over 1.35 million copies in just its first three days of release in Japan.
With that said, the reduction in physical sales for Monster Hunter Wilds compared to Rise and World points towards a majority of the playerbase shifting towards buying the game on digital platforms instead of physical copies. This is evidenced by Monster Hunter Wilds reaching 1.3 million concurrent players worlwide on Steam mere hours after its release and selling eight million copies in its first three days. Indeed, it didn't take long for Monster Hunter Wilds to become the fastest-selling game in both the Monster Hunter franchise and the entire Capcom catalogue.
This feat is made even more impressive by the fact that Monster Hunter Wilds' launch has been marred by performance issues on multiple platforms. The game currently only has a positive review rating of 55% on Steam, with most reviewers citing problems with running the game smoothly as the reason behind their negative reviews, instead of issues with the game's content itself.
While Monster Hunter Wilds already offers tons of content for players at launch, the game also has plenty of exciting additions coming soon. The game's first free Title Update is set to be released in early April and will feature the returning monster Mizutsune, an online Gathering Hub, and more challenging endgame content.
According to Monster Hunter Wilds' initial free Title Update Roadmap, the game's second free Title Update will come in the Summer. It will feature more Event Quests plus a new as-yet unnamed monster.
Monster Hunter Wilds launched globally on 28 February, 2025 on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.
