Summary
At the end of the 2023 Game Awards, Capcom fans were treated to the reveal of the nextMonster Huntertitle. DubbedMonster Hunter Wilds, this new game looks to follow inMonster Hunter World’s footsteps as the mainMonster Hunterentry on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series.Monster Hunter Wilds’ only obvious downside was that it’s much farther away than expected, with a tentative release window set for 2025. With the mobile title Monster Hunter Now having just come out, it seems that Wilds intends to take its time while letting the smaller game breathe.
TheMonster Huntercommunity was caught off guard by this, as it was assumed thatMonster Hunter Wildswould be revealed and released within a year ofMonster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak’s final Title Update, just likeRisewas afterMonster Hunter World: Iceborne.Wilds’ announcement breaks a lot of trends established for the series sinceMonster Hunter World, and while it has promised more information to come in summer 2024, it’s still interesting howMonster Hunter Wildsis being presented compared to its predecessors.
Monster Hunter Wilds’ Isn’t Marketing Itself Like Past Games
Back in 2017, the announcement ofMonster Hunter Worldat Sony’s E3 conference caught many people by surprise. After mainlineMonster Hunterspent nearly a decade on Nintendo consolesand handhelds, jumping to stronger hardware was a major shift. Adding to that, the game’s release date was announced to be early 2018, later clarified as Jun 30, 2025, which was only about seven months after this June 12 reveal. Capcom made sure that this entry hit the ground running, and sales have provenMH World’s efforts to be worthwhile.
Monster Hunter Rise’s reprisal ofWorld’s strategy was expected, and that makesMonster Hunter Wilds’ approach an even greater mystery.Risefirst appeared at the Nintendo Direct Mini: Partner Showcase on July 29, 2025. Like its predecessor,Monster HunterRisewould launch on July 08, 2025, within seven months of its reveal.BothMonster Huntertitles got expansion DLCabout a year after they launched, and then rolled out free updates for another year before the announcement of the next installment.Monster Hunter Wildsbroke this pattern of reveals quickly followed by releases, and that’s not the only trendWildshas bucked.
Each Monster Hunter Announcement Trailer Took Its Own Approach
WhyMonster Hunter Wildsfelt the need to announce itself so far in advance isn’t clear, but its incomplete state is evident just from its trailer.Monster Hunter Wilds’ debut runs one minute shorter thanWorldandRise’s own, and feels more like a trailer than a full game reveal. Comparatively,Monster Hunter Worldleads with an entire Anjanath hunt complete with most of the game’s new tools and environmental interactions, beforeintroducingMonster Hunter’s new Turf War mechanic. SinceMonster Hunter Risedidn’t need to introduceMonster Hunter’s fundamentals likeWorlddid, it revealed Wirebugs, player voice lines, many new monsters, and its story before immediately leading into the reveal trailer forMonster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin.
Monster Hunter Wilds May Not Be Able To Show Its True Scope In One Trailer
It seems likeMonster Hunter Wildshas a lot to prepare before it’s done, given that it was announced at least one full year, possibly two, before it’s out.Wilds’ implied larger hunting areas may be to blame, as they need proportionally more polish to meetMonster Hunter’s quality standards. Viewing the reveal trailers forWorld,Rise, andWildsback-to-back displays an increasing trend toward wide open areas, culminating in theambiguously open-world vista endingMonster HunterWilds’ trailer. On top of its multipurpose mount, hordes of monsters, and implied weather effects,Monster Hunter Wildsneeds all the time it can get if it’s going to beMonster Hunter’s biggest game yet.
