Monster Hunter Wilds Dominates Steam, Leaving Smaller Games Struggling for Attention

Capcom’s Monster Hunter Wilds made an explosive entrance on Steam, with its concurrent player count shooting from zero to nearly 1 million players in just two hours on Thursday night. Over the weekend, that number fluctuated between 600,000 and 1.3 million as players took short breaks from monster hunting.

For Monster Hunter, it was an incredible weekend. For smaller games? Not so much.

One of the most overlooked releases of the weekend was Omega 6: The Triangle Stars, an adventure game from Takaya Imamura, the former Nintendo artist behind Star Fox and F-Zero. Despite Imamura’s legendary status – he designed Fox McCloud, Captain Falcon, and the cast of Majora’s Mask – his indie game barely made a ripple on Steam.

Launching with a 40% discount, Omega 6 has only managed five user reviews so far, suggesting that it was completely drowned out by Monster Hunter Wilds’ tidal wave of attention.

Indie Devs Are Feeling the Impact

Japanese indie developer STP Works, known for the Old Coin Pusher Friends series, jokingly tweeted about the situation on Friday:

“Not a single game has been sold on Steam since Monster Hunter was released, lol.”

Though likely exaggerated, it highlights how Wilds’ launch consumed the attention of a massive portion of Japan’s Steam audience, leaving smaller titles struggling to sell even a single copy.

Some Games Still Thrive in Monster Hunter’s Shadow

Not all games were crushed by Wilds’ monstrous success. The co-op horror game REPO, which launched shortly before Monster Hunter, has managed to find an audience, proving that indie games can still thrive – as long as they fully embrace chaos and meme-worthy antics.

For everyone else? Releasing alongside Monster Hunter Wilds might just be the digital equivalent of stepping into a Rathalos’ fire breath.