Cognition Dissemination: With Monster Hunter: World’s Success, Capcom Should Give Lost Planet Another Shot

Capcom tried their damnedest to make Monster Hunter appealing to a worldwide audience with Monster Hunter: World, as shown through how it was revealed on the big stage at E3 2017 and the marketing campaign, with a name that matched their intentions. But it’s possible they did too good of a job. It easily surpassed most sales expectations, as Capcom’s listings show how World sold around 10.7 million copies, effortlessly making it the company’s best-selling game in their history.

Along with expansions, they’ll inevitably follow up on this success with another game, and perhaps one or two spinoff titles aimed towards worldwide sensibilities. But there’s also a franchise they could revive considering some of its installments contained elements in common with the MH franchise: Lost Planet.

Lost Planet: Extreme Condition included a multiplayer mode that shared some elements with the MH games, but the single-player campaign was equally as large of a focus for the marketing campaign. Capcom even based protagonist Wayne off South Korean star Lee Byung-hun, who also helped promote the game in full costume. It was Lost Planet 2 where the similarities to MH became more apparent; in fact, several players referred to it as essentially being a sci-fi Monster Hunter game when it released in 2010. The comparison was further hammered home with the PS3 version including a skin based on Rathalos from the Monster Hunter series, a counterpart to the 360 version receiving skins resembling Marcus and Dom from Gears of War.

Unfortunately, it came far too early to the party. While the second Lost Planet game eventually climbed past the first title’s sales, a good chunk of them came when it was steeply discounted after release. It was also released as a multiplatform title from the start, instead of initially launching as a 360-exclusive like its predecessor, so Capcom expected higher sales. This partly because it lacked help from Microsoft’s marketing prowess, but also due to people not knowing how much they would enjoy a Monster Hunter-like game yet. The focus of the game was on multiplayer, where four players could team up to take on enemies of varying sizes, with the most riveting battles being against larger enemies. That’s similar to… well, I think you know by now.

The game actually sold okay in Japan relative to the population and PS3 userbase (and not too bad on 360) compared to other countries, in a territory that was familiar with the Monster Hunter series. It was good enough that Capcom green lit a successor specifically for that territory, E.X. Troopers, but might have pandered a little too hard and misread the intended audience. While it had a multiplayer focus, its budget was visibly lower and contained a very anime aesthetic. It struggled to 100,000 in Japan between PS3 and 3DS, not even half of what Lost Planet 2 sold.

Meanwhile, Capcom green lit the single-player-focused Lost Planet 3 for western territories, developed by the now-defunct Spark Unlimited, after thinking the campaign was a big reason for the first game’s sales. This sold poorly too, despite its quality story.

It would be a good for Capcom not to give the audience too much of a good thing with more Monster Hunter, a company previously known for doing so with franchises like Street Fighter, Mega Man, and several others. They also need more reliable franchises in addition to MH, Resident Evil, and Devil May Cry, given how the fates of Street Fighter and Dead Rising are now in doubt. So, a new Lost Planet game would be a good way for them to keep their lineup fresh, even if it would take cues from another one of their flagship franchises. They could also market it like World, in showcasing how the large battles with gigantic monsters are some of its most enjoyable battles, while also showing how it’s not just MH in a sci-fi skin.

Though it wouldn’t be the focus, it would be nice if they threw in a single-player mode. The campaign wouldn’t compare to the thrill of taking down a giant monstrosity or several of them concurrently in multiplayer, but it would provide a robust-enough quest that anyone who plays it would be satisfied.

Recent playthroughs featuring YouTuber Maximilian Dood and his crew showcase how closely Lost Planet 2 hewed to the MH formula, while establishing differences to make it distinct. It would be nice if Capcom remastered this game for current-generation platforms so a new audience can experience what they missed, even if this wouldn’t be done to test the waters for a revival. The game still looks good, especially on PC, so they have little to lose.

Whether this revival happens or not will depend on whether Capcom will have the resources to handle it. They’ve expanded quite a bit in the last few years to prevent the need to outsource development to other studios, but games also require more resources these days. There’s also a chance that they’d rather make a sci-fi spinoff with the Monster Hunter name or establish it as a franchise not named “Lost Planet,” since the guy who pushed the franchise at Capcom was producer Keiji Inafune, who is long gone. Capcom doesn’t have much announced beyond the Resident Evil 2 remake (releasing on January 25th) and Devil May Cry 5 (releasing on March 8th), so we’ll see what plans they have in store soon.