Monster Hunter: World rises to its highest player count in years

Five years after release, Monster Hunter: World has seen a surge in concurrent players. Per SteamDB, the action RPG is at nearly 145,000 players at time of writing, its highest since 2020.

Compared to its initial launch of near-335,000 players, this new 24-hour peak is minimal. But as noted by PCGamesN, World spent much of 2023 at 30,000 monthly players or more, making this a significant growth.

The increase in the number of players can partially be attributed to the game being a part of Steam's winter sale. But it also doesn't hurt that Monster Hunter Wilds was revealed in December ahead of a planned 2025 release.

Like Resident Evil, Monster Hunter has been a strong player in Capcom's back catalog for years. Both franchises were specifically credited with helping it have a "record-breaking" fiscal year for 2022-2023.

Around this time last year, Capcom revealed the Monster Hunter World: Iceborne expansion sold 10 million copies. Later that year, it revealed the sequel Monster Hunter Rise hit 13 million sales.

Monster Hunter: World's lifecycle ended not long after Iceborne's release. But Capcom is taking advantage of the current resurgence with weekly livestreams to help newcomers and bring more into the fold.