Last month, Capcom admitted that Monster Hunter Wilds "fell short" of expectations. While that might be hard to believe, given that it sold ten million copies at launch alone, it only sold 470,000 copies between April and June, lagging far behind World.
Many have pointed to poor PC optimisation as a possible reason, but Capcom president Haruhiro Tsujimoto argues that the PS5 is partly to blame.
"The console costs about ¥80,000," he explained in an interview with Nikkei (via the site's built-in machine translator). "When you factor in the cost of software and monthly subscriptions, it comes to about ¥100,000 at the time of purchase. This is not an amount that can easily be reached, especially for younger generations. This situation is not limited to Japan, but is similar overseas as well."
Tsujimoto describes this phenomenon as the "PS5 barrier", i.e. that next-gen exclusivity is limiting the number of potential buyers due to its exuberant price. Though it's worth noting, while lifetime sales for the PS4 are of course much higher, the PS5 has kept pace with its predecessor, selling nearly 80 million units in just five years. That means it's only 1.2 million units behind what the...
