Nintendo Switch title Monster Hunter Rise will eventually come to PC, according to producer Ryozo Tsujimoto. While the latest title in the Monster Hunter series will launch on Switch on March 26, Tsujimoto told IGN Japan in an interview that PC players can expect to get their hands on the game sometime in early 2022.
“We received a lot of requests for a PC version of Monster Hunter Rise, particularly from overseas players, and so we have decided to develop a version for PC, which we aim to release in early 2022,” said Tsujimoto. “This is still under development, so I’d like to share more detailed information when the time is right.”
No other details of the PC version were available.
While Monster Hunter has long been a killer franchise in Japan, 2018’s Monster Hunter: World and its Iceborne expansion brought the series to global success, with World selling over 16.8 million units worldwide, and a further 7.2 million sales for Iceborne. It’s encouraging to hear that Capcom is listening to series fans around the world when it considers platforms for new entries such as Rise.
Monster Hunter Rise has been specifically designed with the Switch’s capabilities in mind – for example, Tsujimoto said in the interview that during development “we considered the characteristics of the Nintendo Switch, which can be used as a handheld, and with that in mind we focused on hunting at a higher tempo than before.”
It is not clear how such aspects will translate to a PC version. But Rise’s emphasis on action results in tightened core mechanics that should be fun to play regardless of platform, and the game has been made even more welcoming to new players than the already accessible Monster Hunter World.
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For example, in addition to the feline Palico buddies from previous games, Rise introduces Palamutes, canine creatures that assist the player in battle and that can even be ridden like a horse, making exploration much faster and more dynamic. “We especially wanted to have the fun of traveling around on the Palamute available in multiplayer,” said Tsujimoto. “Getting the necessary performance out of the [Switch] hardware required some adjustments, but we were able to achieve it eventually through continued development.”
While the Switch hardware does come with technical limitations, Rise is a beautiful game with stunning art direction and a complex ecosystem that allows monsters to interact organically with one another. It is notably the first Monster Hunter on a handheld system to feature seamless maps with no loading between areas, a challenge that the development team worked hard to pull off. So there should be no reason to worry that a PC version would be held back by the game’s Switch origins.
Capcom has had success with previous ports to more powerful hardware, such as when 2011’s Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate received a gorgeous HD update for Wii U in 2012. So perhaps a PC version of Rise could receive a similar makeover.
For more on Monster Hunter Rise, take a tour of Kamura Village in the video above, with brand new surprising details about its facilities, like the Gathering Hub, Canteen, and Training Area! Also, check out our Monster Hunter Rise preview of the game overall.
Ryuichi Kataoka is a freelance writer for IGN Japan. Daniel Robson is Chief Editor at IGN Japan.
