Monster Hunter: World, one of the most anticipated titles that will be released early this year, will not be rolled out to the Nintendo Switch.
The massive creature-slaying game will launch on Jan. 26 for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, with a PC release delayed to fall this year.
'Monster Hunter: World' On Nintendo Switch Will Not Happen
In an interview with IGN, Kaname Fujioka and Yuya Tokuda, the directors of Monster Hunter: World, explained why the game was not coming to the Nintendo Switch.
According to Fujioka and Tokuda, Monster Hunter: World has been in development for four years, which meant that work on the open-world adventure already started when the Nintendo Switch was announced in late 2016.
The development team had already committed on the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One as the hardware choices for consoles. However, the directors added that the current-generation consoles of Sony and Microsoft were "the best fit" for the concept of Monster Hunter: World, possibly hinting that the Nintendo Switch is not powerful enough to run the game.
The Monster Hunter franchise was missing from consoles for years, with the most recent releases only available on the Nintendo 3DS. This has made the absence of Monster Hunter: World on the Nintendo Switch more difficult to accept for owners of the hybrid console.
Meanwhile, in the interview, Fujioka and Tokuda revealed that adjustments and improvements were made to make it easier for players new to the franchise to jump in with Monster Hunter: World.
'Monster Hunter: World' On PC Delayed To Fall 2018
The latest Monster Hunter: World TV promo drove up the excitement for the game's release date, as the advertisement confirmed the return of the Unicorn-like Elder Dragon named Kirin.
However, PC players will have to wait a while before they are able to join the hunt. Monster Hunter: World for PC will not launch until fall 2018. The delayed PC release compared to the console release, according to Monster Hunter: World producer Ryozo Tsujimoto, was because this would be the first time that the Monster Hunter franchise will arrive to the PC. Instead of splitting resources, the development team decided to launch the console version first and then focus work on the PC version to make it as good as possible upon launch.
At least PC players will simply have to wait several more months before they get to play Monster Hunter: World. Nintendo Switch owners, meanwhile, will have nothing to wait for.
