Monster Hunter Rise Sells 5 Million Copies In First Week, Boosts Entire Series Beyond 70M

Capcom's Monster Hunter Rise has now climbed to 5 million sales since it was released on March 26. Last month, it sold 4 million copies in its first three days alone. Capcom clarified that Rise has shipped 5 million copies globally, so it hasn't necessarily sold that many through to consumers in its first week. But it's still a gigantic number and it speaks to the enormity and appeal of the franchise.

Monster Hunter games have shipped 66 million units as December 31, 2020, Capcom said. So with Rise's figures added on, that number climbs to about 71 million.

The Monster Hunter series debuted in 2004 and has grown massively since. Once popular primarily in Japan--one Japanese tech CEO gave his company the day off to play Rise--the series is now pushing westward and finding a new audience there. Before Rise, Monster Hunter World reached huge sales numbers thanks in part to this expanded appeal of the series.

Capcom is planning to keep the train running, as it will release Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin for Switch and PC on July 9, 2021. This game will have elements that can "link" to Rise, Capcom said. Additionally, Rise will release on PC in early 2022.

Overall, Capcom is looking to expand the appeal of the Monster Hunter series in a number of ways, including the franchise's first movie. This film, directed by Resident Evil's Paul W.S. Anderson and starring Resident Evil's Mila Jovovich, just recently released in Japan--in fact, it launched on March 26 in Japan, the day that Rise came out.

"Capcom remains firmly committed to satisfying the expectations of all users by leveraging its industry-leading game development capabilities in order to create highly entertaining gameplay experiences," Capcom said.

Review scores for Monster Hunter Rise were generally very good. GameSpot's Monster Hunter Rise review scored the game a 9/10.