Monster Hunter Tri-G boosts 3DS to best week ever in Japan

by JC Fletcher on Dec 13th 2011 11:06AM

The Monster Hunter series' firm grip on the Japanese public continues unabated, with the new Monster Hunter Tri-G selling like crazy in Japan. "Like crazy" in this case translates to 471,055 units in two days, according to Enterbrain estimates.

That release (and its attendant 3DS bundles) drove the 3DS to its best week to date in Japan. 378,114 units went to happy monster hunters, besting the 371,326 sold at launch. The game has yet to be announced for release outside of Japan -- though the accessory made for it is now confirmed for North America. Of course, a new Monster Hunter game won't have the same immediately noticeable effect on sales in any other region.

Source: Andriasang

Tags: 3ds, capcom, enterbrain, japan, monster-hunter-tri-g, nintendo, sales

Reader Comments (39)

I'm no fan of White consoles, but that decal looks so damn good.

They'd have my card details if they did a red 3DS with white decals.

@Nergy
Agreed! srsly, I'm kinda kicking myself for not picking this one up instead of my Cosmo Black one. :0 Maybe I can laser cut some decals similar to it or something...

In other news, the sky is blue.

Question: Is MHT-G different from MHT for the Wii?

@jph89 Yes, it's basically Tri with tons of harder missions, extra monsters and new monsters, new/redesigned armour and weapons as well as added features over the original.

@jph89 Yes it adds alot more content. All of the monsters from previous MH games if I'm not mistaken along with the new monsters from MHP3.

@jph89 It's an expansion of it. More monsters, more weapons, Street Pass support, local online, etc. Here's a great thread from Neogaf that explains it all:

http://www.neogaf.net/forum/showthread.php?t=454631

@jph89

No actual online wireless play = No Buy for me

Granted of course it has "local online play", but that's nothing compared to MHT's ability to just go online and play with random people or whatever.

Just my two cents though. The lack of that feature turned a very interesting game for me into just a "Meh, I'll pass".

That was a sellout btw. There were definite supply constraints.

@ItsameMatt03
Supply constraints on which, the game or the bundle?

Seems like somebody (by which I mean, everybody involved) should have pretty much expected that level of sales...

@xxxsam

The game. Capcom should have known that they could ship a million or more units and they would sell, but perhaps they did it just to guarantee a sellout for publicity.

Cool looking 3DS.

Please god bring this to North America... PLEASE? This would make me feel 100% legitimate in my 3DS purchase, I have friends waiting to buy the system as soon as the MH games come to 3DS in NA for sure. Tri sold well here didn't it? So why not tri and keep the head of steam going? Along with pushing the new Nintendo system which has been hit with mostly a luke warm reception.

Nintendo is doomed.

@Soiden
not sure if trolling... or just stupid.

@Soiden
But what kind of person would assume Nintendo is doomed before the 3DS had it's first Holiday season or before Super Mario Land 3D or Super Mario Kart 3D or Monster Hunter Tri-G were released?

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/10/27/editorial-nintendos-creeping-doom-how-the-company-came-to-m/

Ohh.... I see...

@Milak

You should know by reading the article ;)

Sold my 3DS for $100.00.. It was either that, or throw it at Reggies head in a press conference if he ever mentions the word "Hardcore" again. Flashback of the guy throwing the shoe at George Bush I guess...

@StarcasM What? What are you talking about? Did you mean to comment on a different article?

@StarcasM

"Hardcore" says the avid CoD supporter

I don't have the cash for a handheld right now. Isn't there supposed to be an "HD" version for PS3. I've wanted to try the game. The series looks great.

@30yearGamer
The PS3 one is a port of Monster Hunter Portable 3 from PSP (which may have been called MH Freedom 3, if it was ever released here). It's pretty different from MH3.

@BPMOmega XBL PSN Steam
Well portable 3 is better than Tri imo. The sad thing is that it still hasn't come out in the states. Not sure it ever will at this point.

@BPMOmega XBL PSN Steam either way, i'd like to try it. I just can't buy a handheld:1. don't have the money 2. can't justify buying something for just a couple of games (including the wii)

Isn't this considered a failure, since MH3rd on PSP sold around 2 million in its first days on sale for PSP?

http://kotaku.com/5711345/monstrous-monster-hunter-sales-helps-psp-strike-black

@Pure Black World Tendency
Given that there are A LOT more PSPs in the wild than 3DS... I don't think it's that bad.

@Pure Black World Tendency

Not really, since "first week of sales" and "few days" could be anywhere between 2-7 days, and it's unspecified. We know this article is only counting two days for sure though (if it isn't wrong.) We don't know if we're actually dealing with the same time frame here, so you can't even compare an average (units sold/amount of days after it went on sale.)

@Pure Black World Tendency This isn't a failure...

Tri G is the 3DS' first Monster Hunter game.
MHP3rd is the PSP's fourth Monster Hunter.

Tell me, why didn't you compare Tri G to Freedom which, y'know, released when the PSP was in its infancy.

@SiyamakSordes Yes I guess we will see after a month of sales. Still, the big numbers, including pre-orders and fan demand of the game will be sold in the first few days. And this is Capcoms biggest moneymaker these days, so if they only manage to sell 1/4 of what they did on the last platform it would be a huge loss. I hope Nintendo paid well for that exclusive.

@Silent Intent That's a stupid comparison. The franchise is well known now in Japan, it not exactly like its in its "infant stages". Besides, many MH fans will buy a 3DS for this game alone.

@Pure Black World Tendency

The game sold out. That's all Capcom supplied for the launch.

@Pure Black World Tendency
This isn't exactly an 'exclusive' - well, technically, maybe it is (I obviously don't know if/how much Nintendo paid, or sales-guaranteed or whatever), but really, it's only an extended port of the previous Wii game.

Regardless: sales on new systems (even for big games) are lower. That's why the biggest games typically aren't released during the first year of a system's life. Yes, it looks like about 3/4 of the people buying this game didn't own the system already, but that's exactly the problem - you can only sell to people willing to pay the system price PLUS the game price.

Also why (among other reasons) this is an enhanced port of an old game and not the real new one. When that comes out, they'll want a bigger potential user base.

Or to put it another way: yes these sales are good. Especially the system sales.

@Pure Black World Tendency More people in Japan own a PSP rather than a 3DS, correct? Then, of course, this game won't sell as much if it were on the PSP. That's why I compared it to Freedom, since the PSP had a small install base, as well.

People will buy a 3DS for this game alone, I'll give you that, but there are other factors as to why it's not posting big numbers:

--The big reason is because Capcom provided small shipments of the game (around 400k, last I checked)
--People tend to be more excited about a main installment in the series; Tri G is an enhanced port, albeit, one of a very popular series.

I hope this makes Capcom rething their Vita launch strategy and go "Maybe we should allow Monster Hunter to be part of the UMD Passport program at launch..."

Zelda 3DS is sexier.

Well, looks like I may actually have to dust off my 3DS. It's been just hanging out, not doing anything since I went back to my PSP.

Monster Hunter will make me give it another go. I really hope it's done right and is still super hardcore. If they lowered the difficulty in any way, ima take it out on 3DS with multiple "arrow in the knee" posts.

Just got into MH, picked up tri for the wii. Ive been missing out.

I'm glad it did well in japan. Maybe they'll think about bringing out over, but that's wishful thinking on my end.

They sure don't like monsters over there!

Your face when you realize the decal is upside down while opened.

It looks to me like it would be goofy to walk around playing tri-G with an upside down decal to the world.

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