When “Pokémon Go” was released in 2016, the world changed. Emblematic places around the world were filled with people who, cell phone in hand, sought to get hold of one of the creatures from the video game through augmented reality.
It was a game that encouraged people to walk, to get objects and find Pokémon. And that year, it was raising $1.6 million a day. Today, almost 80 million players are still active monthly.
But now, Niantic, the company that created it, has joined forces with Capcom to compete with itself and Nintendo with another game with similar mechanics: “Monster Hunter Now“.
Of course, here it’s not about collecting beasts… But about defeating them while they invade the places where they usually walk with their smartphone.
From Japan to the whole world
Almost 20 years ago, in 2004, the first video game in the “Monster Hunter” franchise came out. Combining role-playing and action in a fantasy world, the player had to explore a fantasy world and hunt different monsters in order to protect the villagers.
To do this, you need to gather the appropriate equipment through different missions and study the behavior and movements of each monster to face the challenging battles. And hunting these monsters could be done alone or in groups of up to four players.
At first, the game’s success was especially noted in Japan and the East. But, little by little, the “Monster Hunter” franchise continued to expand and grow, also achieving great popularity in the West.
According to Diana, a player, the titles in this saga “were really challenging games…”, she explains to Efe: “and perhaps we were used to less demanding mechanics, because the gameplay was not simple, it required a lot of combined skill and strategy “.
With “Monster Hunter 4”, Capcom began to conquer the West beyond the niche of players enchanted by Japanese wonders, and since then the success has increased, to the point that later installments such as “Monster Hunter Rise” or “Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak” surpassed 13 and 6 million units sold respectively.
In fact, almost a year ago, Capcom revealed that the “Monster Hunter” saga had sold 88 million copies among all its titles. And, if that number is considerable, it is now growing rapidly through the App and Play Stores.
Because the experience of hunting monsters, until now available on consoles and computers, has reached the mobile phones of millions of players. And now, anyone can become a monster hunter from anywhere.
In its first week of life, the Niantic game has achieved five million downloads. (PHOTO COURTESY)
From the phone to reality
And it seems that many wanted to do it. Because if before its launch more than a million people had already registered, in just a week of life “Monster Hunter Now“has exceeded five million downloads.
Will this figure be enough for it to endure like “Pokémon Go” or, as happened with “Harry Potter: Wizards Unite,” will it deflate? It’s too early to tell: “It’s true that the novelty effect makes us walk around with enthusiasm again, phone in hand… Whether it will last or not remains to be seen, but for now, I play with enthusiasm,” says Diana.
Perhaps the key is in originality. Because, despite having been developed by Niantic, just like “Pokémon Go”, and although the similarities are evident; The truth is that this new bet also has several differences that give it its own personality. And, at the same time, it has a different gameplay than the classic “Monster Hunter”.
And time, in “Monster Hunter Now“, is key: 75 minutes is the time they will have to hunt the monster, with screen management similar to that of “Pokémon Go” to attack and dodge.
If they do not achieve it in that time, they will have lost. So maybe they want help: the game can bring us together as a team with other nearby players. Or we can, thanks to a QR code, invite our friends, even if they are far away. Union make force.
And, of course, real-world exploration is key: you have to walk around, finding new objects and monsters. In addition, the augmented reality option allows us to see how creatures interact with the environment in which we physically find ourselves.
It is too early to know what the future of this new game will be. But for now, the monsters are out there, and to hunt them down, all you have to do is pick up your phone and go for a walk.
Reliable, reliable and easy. Multimedia news agency in Spanish.
2023-10-14 20:05:51
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