Monster Hunter Wilds beta is the third most played game of the year

The Monster Hunter series is getting bigger and bigger. While the game had its fan base, Monster Hunter: World catapulted the series into the mainstream, becoming Capcom's best-selling game of all time, ahead of the Resident Evil franchise. Coincidentally, Monster Hunter Rise is Capcom's second best-selling book of 2021. So, naturally, expectations were high ahead of Monster Hunter Wilds' open beta.

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Several returning monsters may be leaked due to Monster Hunter Wilds Datamine

A datamine for the Monster Hunter Wilds open beta may have leaked several monsters that have returned without warning.

The beta started yesterday. It was expected that there would be a lot of players, but no one expected it to be as intense as it was.

Monster Hunter Wilds is the third most played new game on Steam in 2024.

According to SteamDB, the Monster Hunter Wilds beta reached a surprising high of 463,798 on the Valve-owned platform, making it the third-highest concurrent player count for a new title this year, behind Black Myth: Wukong and Palworld.

This means that the Wilds Beta, which launched three days early on PS Plus, beat Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, which Microsoft said was the biggest release for the series, Helldivers 2, and Amazon's hugely popular new MMOs Throne and Liberty. That's no mean feat for a beta.

Not only has the beta version of Wilds trounced almost every game released this year, it's now the most played Monster Hunter game on Steam, surpassing Worlds' peak player count of 334,684.

This number of concurrent players doesn't just mean that the beta will be one of the most played games of 2024. In fact, it ranks 22nd, ahead of Starfield, Destiny 2, and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, making it one of the highest rankings of all time.

Of course, numbers like these mean that Monster Hunter Wilds is comfortably atop Steam's top wishlist charts, with Deadlock, Hollow Knight: Silksong, and Delta Force taking second, third, and fourth places respectively.

I'm sure Capcom is expecting a good response to this beta. But you have to imagine that this blows the company's most outrageous valuations out of the water.

Monster Hunter Wilds introduces a dynamic, living world driven by climate change, with a variety of giant monsters, weapons, and characters. The new mount, Seikret, allows you to travel faster and easier.