Monster Hunter Now surpasses $250m in time for Season 4 monsters and a new AR feature

• Monster Hunter Now has surpassed $250 million in gross revenue
• Major quarterly updates have traditionally surged player spending, and the next is two weeks away

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Niantic’s location-based augmented reality title Monster Hunter Now has surpassed $250 million in lifetime gross revenue across Google Play and the App Store, according to AppMagic estimates.

The milestone further secures Now as Niantic’s second-biggest mobile game with true earnings likely higher still when including its web shop sales, with better deals to incentivise players away from in-app purchases – a popular move to avoid Apple and Google fees.

Seasonal stampedes

Monster Hunter Now celebrated its first anniversary this September with $225 million generated in-game up to that point. Just over two months on, the AR game has earned another $26.7 million bringing its current total to $251.7 million.

However, earnings from app stores have been declining since the anniversary this September, down 25% in October and currently a further 21% in November.

This is despite daily earnings spiking by 151% at the start of November due to the Pokémon Go-like paid event Carnival Global, during which paid ticket holders had access to exclusive new weapons and powerful new monsters.

Though player spending has slowed since then, Monster Hunter Now’s major Season 4 update is just two weeks away, launching on December 12th and likely to cause another surge.

Season-based updates were introduced early in 2024 and have taken place every quarter, with a track record for introducing more monsters, a new type of weapon to craft and a range of quality-of-life features. Crucially, each Season has also caused an overt revenue boost.

When Season 1 launched on March 14th, 2024, in-app revenue spiked by 98% over the day prior to $987,000. The increase in daily spending sustained until March 25th, when it finally fell back to pre-update levels.

Season 2 sparked an even bigger surge, hitting $1.1 million on its June 13th launch date – a 292% increase over June 12th. Daily spending didn’t fall back to pre-update levels until July 1st and rose again shortly thereafter thanks to a paid-only event.

The latest major update, Season 3, launched on September 12th and coincided with Now’s one-year anniversary. Once again, daily revenue saw a significant increase as the Season began, up 163% from the day prior and reaching $844,000. The boost had a shorter lifespan than Season 2’s, however, with revenue falling below pre-update levels after 12 days.

Wintertime tundra

Whether the Season 4 update causes yet another revenue surge remains to be seen, but Niantic has already confirmed not only new monsters, but also the game’s first brand-new habitat, the Tundra.

A real-world location’s habitat changes daily in Now and each has its own pool of monsters that can spawn within, adding variety to daily gameplay in a player’s local area. Up until now, there have only been three habitats in rotation: Forest, Swamp and Desert.

The new Tundra habitat will be a permanent wintry addition to that rotation and will feature new monsters from the main series like Tigrex, Lagombi, Volvidon, and Somnacanth.

Season 4 will also introduce the Switch Axe weapon with monster parts serving as crafting resources, encouraging players to hunt creatures new and old to create the latest builds.

Lastly, Niantic has plans to add a new level of customisation to Monster Hunter Now, introducing a customisable cat-like Palico – an in-universe species popular enough to get its own mobile spinoff.

The player’s new sidekick, a Palico will collect materials while they walk and can be customised in both fur colour and facial features. Players will also be able to take photos of their new companion in the real world using augmented reality technology – a feature that’s been present but highly situational in-game up until now.