Call me Mr Monster Hunter: the man who guided a Japanese curiosity to global success

Capcom's Monster Hunter: World is the fastest-selling game in its history. But for 10 years, the series struggled to find success outside Japan. What changed?

Wherever you looked in Japan in 2008, someone was bent over a tiny PlayStation Portable games console (PSP) - and that someone was probably playing Monster Hunter. From clusters of young people playing on groomed lawns outside universities to suited salarymen on packed trains, the game had friends, family and work colleagues banding together to track and fight gigantic fantasy creatures. You had a good chance of finding a game to join if you pulled out your PSP in any public place.

More than 40m Monster Hunter games, by Japanese developer Capcom, were sold between 2004 and 2017, but its success was confined almost entirely to its home country. Everything changed this year, though. When Monster Hunter World came out in January, it become not only the bestselling game in the series, but also the fastest selling game in Capcom's history, selling 6m copies in less than a month. And much to the delight of long-time Monster Hunter players, it's proved as popular in the US and Europe as it has in Japan.