'Monster Hunter 4' closes in on 2m sales
Released in Japan on September 14, Nintendo 3DS action game "Monster Hunter 4" clocked up 1.8m million sales in its first four days of availability.
It's the first in the well-loved "Monster Hunter" series for two years, after the 3DS debut "Monster Hunter 3G" emerged in 2011.
And while Famitsu's weekly chart was source for the 1.8m tally, game publisher Capcom revealed that 2 million copies of the game had been sent to stores over "Monster Hunter 4"'s first four days.
The impressive launch numbers confirm that "Monster Hunter" is still a solid seller, despite a previous perceived alliegance to PlayStation, and Capcom's stated aim of shipping 2.8m by March 2014 now appears to be a modest target.
Special editions of the Nintendo 3DS XL arrived at the same time as "Monster Hunter 4," while the game itself makes further use of the 3DS's proximity-based StreetPass system, adding mid-air strikes and a dozen new creatures to track and subdue.
But with "Monster Hunter 3G" becoming an international hit only in March 2013 under the guise of "Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate," a localization of "Monster Hunter 4" may well be some way off.
Official website [Japanese-language]: capcom.co.jp/monsterhunter/4/
