At the PlayStation Partner Awards 2025 Japan Asia held in Tokyo on December 3, Monster Hunter Wilds won the Grand Award and the User’s Choice Award.
In an interview held before the award ceremony, Ryozo Tsujimoto, the producer of this work, and Yuya Tokuda, the director, answered questions from local media. IGN Japan was in attendance.
When Monster Hunter Wilds was first released on February 28, some players left harsh feedback, but Tokuda said the team worked to improve the game by taking advantage of that feedback.
“Immediately after the release, we apologized for the inconvenience caused by the volume of content and the difficulty level. Despite this, we were delighted to receive various awards, including Users’ Choice awards. We would like to thank all the players who have given their opinions and spoken warm words even in this situation. The development team was able to turn everyone’s feedback into an asset and work on the update with all our strength, and I think the result was also the reason why players voted for us,” said Tokuda.
“Monster Hunter has the characteristics of a title that gets regular updates, but player opinions were very helpful during the update process, and in order to make Monster Hunter Wilds better, the fans’ voices gave us power. There are still updates left to come, so we will continue to do our best,” added Tsujimoto.
The Monster Hunter series celebrated its 20th anniversary last year. The franchise was a hit in Japan, and after the release of Monster Hunter: World in 2018, it grew into a literal monster title overseas. According to Tokuda, the Monster Hunter Wilds team were more aware than ever of being accepted by newcomers or those who had trouble beating the games.
“We analyzed what kind of places beginners were stuck in, including Monster Hunter: World. We have worked on these points in turn to make it easier for new users to clear hurdles such as being able to reach certain monsters or to craft certain types of armor. In addition, we have tried to adopt as many new elements as possible that are beneficial for both beginners and existing users, such as Focus Mode. This time, as a result of making the game easy to beat even for new players and players who could not clear it before, I think the difficulty curve was a little lacking for existing users,” said Tokuda.
Tokuda said the team has focused on creating more difficult content with each update.
“If you beat the game immediately after its release and stopped playing, I would appreciate it if you could pick it up again,” said Tokuda.
Monster Hunter Wilds still has updates to come, but Tsujimoto also talked a little about the future of the series.
“Of course, we don’t intend to stop the series here. We plan to continue, and we want to let more people play. In addition, I would like to think about things beyond the games so that we can further expand the potential of the Monster Hunter IP,” said Tsujimoto.
From Tsujimoto’s remarks, it seems we can continue to look forward to new games and more in the Monster Hunter series.
Tsujimoto was also asked where Monster Hunter stands within the overall catalog of Capcom IP, which he answered diplomatically.
“Capcom is a company with various IPs, and every IP is very important. I’m in charge of Monster Hunter now, that’s all I can comment on, but as Capcom, we want to expand all our IPs,” he said.
Capcom is scheduled to release Resident Evil Requiem, Onimusha Way of the Sword, and Pragmata in 2026.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
