Summary
- Monster Hunter Wilds is nearly here, and when it launches, players will be able to connect with each other regardless of platform.
- The Monster Hunter team believes its work on the PSP and 3DS has helped it prepare for the current expectations of players.
- While console online play wasn’t nearly as sophisticated, the PSP and Nintendo 3DS offered a unique approach that has since been replicated.
In just 13 days, fans of Monster Hunter will embark on a new journey in Monster Hunter Wilds when it launches on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series consoles and PC on February 28. Currently, fans are going through the second phase of the Open Beta, which was extended in response to the PlayStation Network being down.
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When Wilds does launch, it’ll mark the first time that a mainline Monster Hunter title will release on PC on day-and-date. Previously, there was a several month gap between World’s release on consoles and PC. Additionally, crossplay has been confirmed as a launch day feature, meaning all platforms can hunt together.
It’s certainly an ambitious proposition, but it’s one that Capcom has been prepared for, owing to Monster Hunter’s roots on handheld systems.
The PSP and 3DS Were Monster Hunter Machines
In an interview with Games Radar, and as cited in a separate piece by PC Gamer, Monster Hunter Wilds producer Ryozo Tsujimoto discussed the team’s experience with online infrastructure, including its early ventures on the PS2 and how that has helped them all these years later.
While Monster Hunter was playable online on PS2, it wasn’t easy, requiring players to not only have available internet, but a network adapter. “So even if you wanted to play the game, having a sufficient broadband connection and equipment to connect your console to the internet was not necessarily a given back then for most consumers,” he said.
Eventually, though, the series made a jump to the PlayStation and Nintendo’s handhelds, a decision that helped the team carry out their vision of an online experience. Those entries helped the team prepare for a world in which players could seamlessly connect.
“It kind of helped us deal with that lack of infrastructure, and in the meantime, infrastructure caught up,” Tsujimoto added. “The work we did on making the game work on portables with local networks really benefited the design of subsequent online games. So it definitely wasn’t a diversion. It was more like just a realistic approach to catering to the needs of players given the limits of infrastructure at any given time.”
Nowadays, a reality in which you can’t seamlessly connect with another player to go hunting seems like a farfetched idea. But thanks to those handheld titles, it’s a core feature.
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