Capcom held an investor’s financial meeting not too long ago and one of their investor Q&A segments mentioned this nugget of news. As reported by Gematsu:
—I’d like to ask about plans to bring Monster Hunter: World to Nintendo Switch. Also, I would like you to sell a Monster Hunter that middle and high-school students can enjoy again.
Capcom: “There are currently no plans to bring Monster Hunter: World on Nintendo Switch. We are planning to develop a Monster Hunter that middle and high-school students can enjoy, so please look forward to it.”
Clearly with the success of Monster Hunter World. Capcom wants to recapture a younger market of players that possibly only play exclusively on the Switch. After all, Switch is the only handheld console that is capable of local play at school or social gatherings. Lots of children and teenagers either start with a Switch and then purchase a PS4, Xbox One, or PC later on. Monster Hunter Rise and Stories 2 offers a gap to bridge the franchise among console transitions as younger gamers decide to purchase a bigger gaming machine. Personally, I’ve seen this happen many times among pre-teens in the family or among friend’s children. They always start with a Switch, once they’re old enough they transition to PC or a gaming console.
Monster Hunter Rise and Stories 2 Wings of Ruins covers two separate fan bases that people don’t often consider. Rise will promote the action RPG fantasy of hunting and getting together with friends. While Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin offers a slower and less action-packed entry into the series more akin to a Pokemon entry which story is the main focus, unlike traditional MH games.
New Switch Entries?
The Switch is getting brand new and exclusive games from Capcom with its Monster Hunter series. What other titles could Capcom develop for the Switch and do they have anything in the pipeline? It’s been about 2 years since the rumors from Bloomberg and other tech analysts about Nintendo developing a “Switch Pro” or an upgraded Switch model with more power. We know that Capcom tried to experiment with streaming Resident Evil 7 in Japan to Switch but to mixed results. They want to have some of their big franchises on the console but development costs for allowing some of the bigger entries like Resident Evil 2 or Devil May Cry 5 to run on the switch are rather high, thus they cannot run natively on Switch.
If Monster Hunter Rise and Stories 2 sell well, would we see a return of new IP experiments on the Switch similar to Ace Attorney which started on Nintendo handheld systems? Or is Capcom waiting to port games that need more graphical power when Nintendo releases their next Switch with more power and resolution? Let us know what you think Capcom would do in the comments below!
