Monster Hunter Series: Pay to Play for Monster Hunter G

Capcom is saying that Monster Hunter G, which will be released on the Nintendo Wii later this year, will be charging players on a monthly basis in order to allow them to participate in the online part of the game.

Monster Hunter G is a Wii remake of a game that has been already released on the PlayStation 2 and the PlayStation Portable. Capcom has created quite a few variants of the title, which is focused, as the title implies, on taking out big monsters in a solo effort. In North America, the series is known as Monster Hunter Freedom, but the level of interest has not reached that seen in Japan. One of the games in the series, released for the PS2, initially had support for online play but that was taken out in late 2007.

Nintendo has stated that online multiplayer for the Wii would always remain free, but that all game publishers had the right to charge for the multiplayer portion of their games if they saw that as a good idea. The Japanese magazine Famitsu says that, for Monster Hunter G Wii, Capcom will offer multiple subscription packages for the price of 8 dollars for 30 days, 15 dollars for 60 days or 20 dollars for 90 days. This is a little bit lower than the monthly costs of a traditional Western style MMO.

The Monster Hunter series has been a huge hit for Capcom over the years, but it remains to be seen whether gamers will be happy to pay in order to play.