Today, CAPCOM announced Monster Hunter Now, a mobile game created by Niantic for iOS and Android devices. Monster Hunter Now will take advantage of Niantic's proven location-based technology to usher the hunt into the real world. The press release is extremely scant on details, though it does say it'll be possible to join other players for cooperative hunts and also clarifies that monsters encountered while the app was closed will still be able to be hunted at a later time.
Either you or your companion will be able 'catch' a monster with an item called Paintball so that it can be hunted alone or in co-op at home. Monster Hunter Now is targeting a September launch, while a closed beta test begins on April 25th. Signups are available now on the official website.
Monster Hunter Now is far from the first franchise game released for mobile devices. Monster Hunter Dynamic Hunting launched in 2011 on iOS, followed by Monster Hunter Freedom Unite (an enhanced version of Monster Hunter Freedom 2) in 2014, Monster Hunter Explore in 2015 (on both iOS and Android), and more recently by 2020's Monster Hunter Riders (again available on both iOS and Android).
Clearly, CAPCOM is seeking to capitalize on its newest golden egg goose (Monster Hunter World became by far the best-selling game ever released by the Japanese company, and Monster Hunter Rise is no slouch, either) on the mobile market with the help of Niantic's proven location-based technology. That said, while Pokémon Go was an incredible success, Niantic's subsequent releases didn't garner the same excitement.
Harry Potter: Wizards Unite similarly offered players the chance to encounter the fantastic beasts imagined by J.K. Rowling in the real world, but the game failed to catch on and was shut down last year. A similar fate befell Catan: World Explorers, while Transformers: Heavy Metal was canceled before even launching. Pikmin Bloom didn't do great, either.
This year, Niantic launched NBA All-World, and they've also got the virtual pet augmented reality game Peridot and the location-based MARVEL World of Heroes coming out later in 2023.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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