Capcom has revealed that close to half of Monster Hunter Rise players bought the Sunbreak expansion, indicating that its long-running action RPG series is still going from strength to strength. This newest sales milestone was confirmed just as Capcom was gearing up to release the Xbox and PlayStation ports of Monster Hunter Rise, which became available for purchase on Friday, January 20.
The latest mainline installment in the Monster Hunter franchise spent nearly a year as a Switch exclusive before hitting PC in early 2022, five months ahead of Sunbreak's debut. That notwithstanding, Monster Hunter Rise was among the best-selling 2021 games on the strength of its Switch player base alone. Capcom last said that its ARPG surpassed 11.2 million sold units as of late 2022.
The Japanese gaming giant has now revealed that nearly half of the Monster Hunter Rise player base already bought the Sunbreak expansion, announcing that the $40 DLC hit 5 million worldwide sales. For context, Sunbreak averaged over a million monthly sales from its release until late October, meaning that Capcom managed to sell an additional 600,000 copies over the last three months.
While this milestone also points to a natural sales slowdown, it's worth noting that Sunbreak remains exclusive to the Switch and PC versions of Monster Hunter Rise. The newly released PlayStation and Xbox ports are only scheduled to receive the expansion in a couple of months, so at least one more sales spike seems plausible. Doubly so given how initial reviews suggest Capcom did a great job bringing its hit ARPG to the current-generation consoles, which will likely leave many players craving for more come spring.
Monster Hunter Rise is also available through Xbox Game Pass as of this month, but Sunbreak isn't part of that offering and must be purchased separately on PC. Capcom previously confirmed this will also be the case with the upcoming Xbox versions of the DLC. That decision was likely made in an effort not to maximize the expansion's potential sales within Microsoft's ecosystem.
This continued commercial success is far from accidental, seeing how Capcom has been hard at work supporting Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak with free DLC ever since its mid-2022 release. The developer-publisher already committed to putting out more such content over the course of this year, albeit it has yet to reveal a detailed 2023 roadmap. Likewise, the series' fans are still waiting for Capcom to attach an official release date to Sunbreak's PlayStation and Xbox ports.
Monster Hunter Rise is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: Capcom