I am worried about the future of Monster Hunter.

Normally I'd think a title like this is dramatic, but I think it is a founded worry after this year.

Why worry? Wilds. Wilds has shown us the crippling effect that publishers/shareholders can have on a game. Corporate greed came before passion and quality for the customer.

This sets a very bad precedent going forward, especially now that MH is mainstream. A franchise becoming AAA can be a slippery slope as more suits want to get involved.

All that aside, the design decision to chase realistic graphics was a huge blunder. Textures should NEVER come before artstyle and performance. There is a reason Fromsoftware games have outdated graphics but look amazing; the art carries the game.

On top of that, the casualisation and automated components of hunts in Wilds scare me. I see what they were going for but ultimately I think they failed, and now we have artificially harder hunts because of these bad early design choices (I think they responded to the too easy accusations in an unhealthy way).

All in all I am super sad we went from Rise to Wilds. It has genuinely made me worry going forward and I won't be pre-ordering a MH game again.