Ahead of Monster Hunter Wilds, Capcom's action RPG behemoth hits 100 million copies sold, with World and Rise chipping in nearly half of that in just a few years

 Monster Hunter World.
Monster Hunter World.

Capcom has announced that its beloved action RPG series Monster Hunter has surpassed a total of 100 million sales worldwide, with Monster Hunter World and Rise in particular playing a huge part in its success.

In a press release, Capcom notes that World, which first released in 2018, accounts for around a quarter of the series' sales, with a whopping 25 million units sold as of the end of March. Its popularity has really persisted over the years, with it racking up one million sales every year since launch, partly buoyed by the Iceborne expansion in 2020.

Meanwhile, 2021's Monster Hunter Rise – the most recent main game – has hit 15 million sales, while its expansion, Sunbreak, has now managed to reach eight million. That's a whole lot of monsters that've been hunted over the years, especially given that Rise only launched in 2021 and Sunbreak followed in 2022, and some adorable commemorative artwork has been released in celebration of Rise's latest milestone.

There's no doubt that 100 million total sales is a huge achievement, especially for a series that quietly got by on a cult-class fandom for over a decade before World really made Monster Hunter a global draw. Capcom cites Rise's "wider platform support" as one factor of its success – the excellent PC version comes to mind – and has also pointed to the release of merch, movies, and even food as contributors to the overall popularity of the series, not to mention the announcement of the upcoming Monster Hunter Wilds. Wilds doesn't currently have a firm release date, but is set to land on PC, Xbox Series X|S and PS5 at some point in 2025.

Back in 2020, Resident Evil became Capcom's first series to hit 100 million total sales – a number which has only continued to grow. In fact, by the end of last year, it'd managed 154 million sales in total, letting it comfortably hold on to its title of Capcom's best-selling series. Monster Hunter, which is Capcom's second best-selling series, still has some distance to grow if it wants to catch up, but there's no doubt that the release of Wilds will boost its figures even further. That said, Monster Hunter World remains Capcom's best-selling single game, followed by Rise in second place and then Resident Evil 2's remake in third.

Looking for some exciting new games to dive into? Be sure to check out our roundup of the top 25 best action games.