Capcom president Haruhiro Tsujimoto has blamed something he calls the "PS5 barrier" for slowing Monster Hunter Wilds sales, suggesting that the console and its ancillary purchases are at least partly responsible for the game's underperformance in recent months.
In an interview with Nikkei (as spotted by ResetEra user DriftingSpirit; we're using machine translation for the interview), Tsujimoto says that Monster Hunter Wilds' "main platform" is the PS5, but that the "barrier" for this platform is "unexpectedly large".
He says that the console costs around 80,000 yen in Japan (which works out at around $540), but that when adding "software and monthly subscriptions", that cost can reach about 100,000 yen (roughly $670). This, Tsujimoto says, is "not an amount that can be easily reached, especially for younger generations".
According to Tsujimoto, this situation isn't unique to Japan, but is "similar overseas as well". Relatedly, Sony increased prices for the PS5 in the US back in August, with all three major models of the console affected by the price hike.
Tsujimoto says that "sales will begin in the future", presumably pointing to discounts for Monster Hunter Wilds on the horizon. He also says the Switch 2's successful launch at around 50,000 yen proves the "high level of cost-consciousness among ordinary consumers".
It's telling that Tsujimoto doesn't make reference to any of the other factors that might be causing Monster Hunter Wilds sales to slow down.
Players have complained, for instance, about the game's lackluster PC performance and lack of endgame content, prompting Capcom to move its plans for the latter forward to an earlier patch in August and to promise more PC optimizations this winter.
It's entirely possible that word-of-mouth regarding these problems has put some players off buying the game, so perhaps when Capcom addresses these issues, sales might pick up. Of course, discounts in major storefront sales won't hurt, either.
You can check out Monster Hunter Wilds right now on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S, and you can read our own Tyler's review from back when the game launched in February right here.
