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Capcom’s recent PSP hit, MonHan Nikki Poka Poka Airu Mura — we’ll call this Monster Hunter Diary for the sake of everyone’s sanity — has not one, but two accomplishments under its belt.
The first is that it continues to sell a few thousand units steadily week after week since its release in August. The latest known numbers for the game put it at around 460,000 units sold as of two weeks ago — not quite as impressive as mainline Monster Hunter games, but that was never Monster Hunter Diary’s goal.
No, Capcom’s vision for the game involved introducing the series to Japanese players that had never played it before. While the mainline Monster Hunter games are a social craze amongst Japan’s game population, they’re also tuned to a very specific kind of appeal — an almost instinctive love for hunting, gathering and crafting. Diary was meant to introduce the franchise to a different demographic — women.
As of September, it seems to be working. About 50% of Monster Hunter Diary players on the PSP are female, an accomplishment Capcom call “unprecedented” for one of their games. But Diary is just one part of the expansion effort.
There exists a version of the game on Japan’s popular digital mobile gaming platform, Mobage Town, titled Monster Hunter Diary Mobile. In a little over two weeks since its release, Monster Hunter Diary Mobile attracted around 500,000 subscribers to its free-to-play, pay-for-more service.
As of today, that number has grown to 1 million subscribers, comprising both Monster Hunter veterans, as well as new players. Capcom point to the game’s accessibility combined with an effective promotional campaign launched aside Monster Hunter Diary for PSP as the reason behind Diary Mobile’s success.
Capcom’s next major flagship title in the series, Monster Hunter Portable 3rd, is scheduled for release on the PSP this December.
