Recent pricing pains are being felt across the gaming industry and across every major platform and ecosystem. This was exacerbated when Sony increased the price of PlayStation 5 consoles so suddenly last month, giving consumers only a one-day heads up ahead of the hike. However, before that increase, gamers seemed not to have the resources to keep up with expenses like they might have in the past — and this was felt in newer games like Monster Hunter Wilds.
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Capcom cited the high cost of PlayStation 5 gaming in an interview with Nikkei Gaming, blaming Sony for a “steep” entry cost for gamers to play the popular Monster Hunter Wilds, which resulted in recent disappointing sales figures. When it was released in February, the game quickly sold over 10 million copies in just a month. However, in Capcom’s Q2 2025 financial results published at the end of July, Monster Hunter Wilds had only sold 477,000 copies, barely outpacing the older title Monster Hunter Rise at 380,000 units sold. Still a good number overall, but a sharp decline from 10 million.
Capcom Worries About the Future for Younger Gamers
In the Nikkei Gaming interview, Capcom President Hiruhiro Tsujimoto attributed the decline in sales for Monster Hunter Wilds to the PS5’s high cost of entry: “We [found] that the ‘PS5 barrier’ is unexpectedly large. The console costs about ¥80,000 ($538). When you factor in the cost of software and monthly subscriptions, it comes to about ¥100,000 ($674) at the time of purchase,” said Tsujimoto, via translation. “This is not an amount that can be easily reached, especially for younger generations. This situation is not limited to Japan, but is similar overseas as well.”
Tsujimoto asserts that the company’s aim to combat this in the future is to find new ways to overcome cost obstacles and get Monster Hunter Wilds to as “many people as possible.” Although Tsujimoto doesn’t mention Xbox in the interview, he does give praise to the recent release of the Nintendo Switch 2, saying the response to the game on that platform was better than expected. But given Capcom’s relationship with the PlayStation brand, the hopes were perhaps higher for Sony’s platform.
Later in the interview, Tsujimoto drew a direct comparison between Monster Hunter Wilds and Monster Hunter: World, holding the latter as an example where meeting customers with good value for their money is what’s caused these results. “Monster Hunter: World, which has been on the market for about seven years, is currently selling for $9.90. In comparison, Monster Hunter Wilds is priced at $70,” said Tsujimoto. “How many users will buy it at that price range?”
Recently, analysts have been concerned about a shift in spending among consumers, particularly among the younger generation who is now entering their young adult lives and presumably have more spending power. In early July, Mat Piscatella of Circana documented a massive drop in purchases by gamers aged 18-24, who plan on spending much less than before on video games, whereas the older generations remained relatively unchanged, albeit with slight declines.
Gamers seem to be locked in on value, preferring to pay for subscription services like Xbox Game Pass over AAA pricing for full-cost titles — even going as far as to cause an uproar when major publishers began pushing $80 video games, which was swiftly rejected. So there is a degree of truth in what Capcom’s president is saying, but there is more to it as well. It’s not just the high cost of entry, but the high cost of gaming in general. Something may need to change, and even though Tsujimoto is cognizant of lower prices equalling higher sales, it’s unlikely Capcom will release the next Monster Hunter game under $70, or maybe $80.
Is Capcom correct for trying to pass the blame on a “soft” recent performance for Monster Hunter Wilds on Sony? What could Sony be doing to combat growing price wariness among gamers? Let us know in the comments below!
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