Since its launch in March, the Nintendo Switch has sold like gangbusters for the first two to three months of availability. The good news only continued for the Japanese company with the announcement of Monster Hunter XX, causing another stock boom for Nintendo.
Get Hunting
Nintendo and Capcom announced that Monster Hunter XX was getting a release on the Nintendo Switch. The game is an expansion to Monster Hunter X, known better in the States as Monster Hunter Generations, released originally on Nintendo 3DS.
The game was first released November 2015 in Japan and wouldn't get a Stateside release until July 2016. The announcement also makes Monster Hunter XX the first mainline Monster Hunter game to get a console release since 2012's Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate.
While the series has a smaller following in the States, the Monster Hunter series is one of Capcom's most popular in Japan. Most of the bigger, more popular entries have been localized for release outside Japan but it isn't clear at this time whether it will be released in Japan, the West, or both. A release date hasn't been nailed down for the game either.
That said, with E3 right around the corner, Nintendo could be keeping information close to the chest so that its E3 presence is substantial. Considering the games that are going to be there like Super Mario Odyssey, Nintendo might try to make the most of it for Monster Hunter XX.
Nintendo Flies High
Nintendo didn't have to wait long to already see the benefit of the announcement. The company's stock jumped nearly 6 percent following the announcement, hitting an eight-year high on the stock market. This is just another notch in the belt for Nintendo since the Switch's release in March.
This is also reflective of the selling power of Monster Hunter, which has been a major system mover in Japan. Early entries in the series helped sell 10 million of Sony's old PlayStation Portable.
These good numbers also have to alleviate any concerns about the Switch's appeal and Nintendo's marketing of the machine. This is the kind of bounceback Nintendo needed after the disappointing run the Wii U had.
The Wii U failed to sell anywhere near the kind of numbers the Wii did and it also alienated third-party developers and publishers, which have been key to the success of systems like the PS4 and Xbox One. If companies like Activision and EA are seeing this news, they are likely thinking about expanding support for the Switch since it's another successful platform to release new games on.
