Monster Hunter: World

Monster Hunter: World is an action role-playing game from Capcom, released in 2018 as the fifth main series entry in the Monster Hunter franchise. It launched worldwide on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in January 2018, with a Windows version arriving in August of that year. Players control a Hunter tasked with tracking, killing, or trapping monsters across several large, interconnected environments. Success yields loot—monster parts and other materials—used to craft weapons, armor, and equipment. This creates a core loop: players build gear to take on tougher monsters, which drop better parts for even stronger gear. Hunts can be done solo or with up to four players via online multiplayer. Announced at E3 2017, the game adapts the series’ established formulas from older home console and handheld titles to leverage the higher processing power of modern systems. Key changes include fully connected environmental spaces that eliminate the loading zones required in PlayStation 2 and handheld games, improved monster AI and physics, a more seamless cooperative multiplayer experience, and refined tutorials and user interface to attract new players. These changes led Capcom to plan a simultaneous worldwide release, as the series had historically struggled outside Japan partly due to staggered launch schedules. Capcom also enabled cross-region online play for similar reasons. The Windows version was delayed to ensure it was properly optimized for PC players. By April 2020, updates were synchronized across all platforms. Monster Hunter: World received critical acclaim, with praise for making the series more accessible to newcomers and Western audiences without sacrificing its core gameplay or enjoyable difficulty, and for using modern hardware to create living ecosystems. It is Capcom’s best-selling game ever, with over 30 million copies shipped by June 2026. A DLC expansion, Iceborne, released for home consoles in September 2019 and for Windows in January 2020, reaching 10 million sales by December 2022. The next installment, Monster Hunter Rise, was co-developed alongside World and launched worldwide on Nintendo Switch in March 2021, with a Windows version in January 2022. Monster Hunter: World is a third-person action role-playing game.