The Free to Play Game That Could’ve Ended Monster Hunter Wilds Took a Nose-Dive From 15 Million to 100 Players for the Stupidest Reason

There’s no denying the fact that Monster Hunter Wilds is one of the most anticipated games set to release in 2025, despite the year being stacked with titles such as Grand Theft Auto 6 and Assassin’s Creed Shadows. It’s technically a successor to the 2018 hit that brought the series into mainstream popularity.

Monster Hunter Wilds will revolutionize the action-adventure genre. (Image via Capcom)

Considering the reception to the first beta for Monster Hunter Wilds, it’s pretty clear that the game will be a smash hit in the action genre. However, if Phoenix Labs hadn’t completely ruined its game Dauntless to the ground, Monster Hunter Wilds wouldn’t have a free hand like it does right now.

Monster Hunter Wilds biggest rival shot itself in the foot

Dauntless‘ worst enemy was its own developers. (Image via Phoenix Labs)

Phoenix Lab’s own monster-hunting game, Dauntless, originally debuted as an early access title in May 2018 before receiving a full-fledged release for PC and consoles in September 2019. Unlike its competition, it wasn’t locked behind a paywall; Dauntless was a free-to-play title.

The fact that anyone could jump into the title allowed it to gain more than 15 million players in Early Access. It was a remarkable milestone for a monster-hunting game, and it seemed like Phoenix Labs would be able to carry on this momentum with incredible updates and additions that would’ve kept players hooked.

However, Dauntless‘ future didn’t exactly go as many had hoped. Phoenix Labs’ constant mismanagement of the game and bringing changes that no one had asked for in the first play frustrated many. The developers promised that the game’s latest update, called Awakening, would solve everything, but it proved to be the final nail in the coffin.

One of the biggest issues with the Awakening update has been its predatory monetization model. Since Phoenix Labs’ RPG is a free-to-play title, it always had a small number of microtransactions.

However, the update ended up increasing the exclusive items in the title’s battle pass, making them even more FOMO-inducing. The update also added the much-despised loot boxes.

What’s worse is that Phoenix Labs decided to roll back every player’s progression in Dauntless with the latest update. All the weapons gamers managed to acquire, and the progress they made through the main quest lines have vanished from the game. This forced players to start from scratch and spend hundreds of hours grinding for loot all over again.

Gamers can’t understand the decision for a reworked weapon crafting system either. Currently, Dauntless has hundreds of negative users on Steam, and data suggests that just 100 players are playing the game. That’s quite a dive from its initial peak of 15 million.

When is Monster Hunter Wilds coming out?

Wilds‘ is coming out soon. (Image via Capcom)

With the downward spiral of Dauntless, gamers are now looking to its competitor, Monster Hunter Wilds. Thanks to the power of the next-gen consoles, Wilds looks to be an incredible open-world game, and Capcom’s track record proves that it won’t make any mistakes with this franchise.

So when is Wilds hitting the shelves? Well, the game’s official release date is Friday, February 28, 2025. Sony had already revealed the game’s release date during one of the State of Play events.

Wilds is going to be the first game in the entirety of the series that’s going to be available on PC right alongside its Xbox Series S/X and PlayStation release.

If you can’t wait to jump into this incredible game, there’s a second open beta that’s set to run from February 6 to February 9 and another beta weekend from February 13 to 16.

With that said, are you excited for Wilds? Let us know in the comments below.