Capcom developing a Monster Hunter game for Japanese middle schoolers with no plans to bring World to Switch

Although Monster Hunter: World has been released on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC where it has also shipped over 15 million copies in total, there is one more console platform that notably hasn't seen the blockbuster game available there, which is the Nintendo Switch. And naturally, people are wondering if World and its expansion Iceborne will ever make its way to Nintendo's latest popular console.

At Capcom's 41st shareholder meeting held earlier this month on June 17 - which had to be held online due to the global pandemic - one of the shareholders asked directly on whether they have any plans to bring Monster Hunter: World to the Switch, to which the company replied that they have no such plans. The same shareholder also made another inquiry for a Monster Hunter game that "can be enjoyed by middle-and-high school students", and Capcom responded to this one with a more positive tone that they do have a related project currently under development.

Capcom posted a transcript of the Q&A session from the 41st shareholder meeting on their website. We have translated the Monster Hunter-related segment as follows:

Q. I want to ask about the deployment of Monster Hunter: World for Nintendo Switch. Also, I want you to once again sell a Monster Hunter that can be enjoyed by middle-and-high school students.

A. Regarding the deployment of Monster Hunter: World for Nintendo Switch, currently we are not planning for that. We do have a development project for a Monster Hunter that can be enjoyed by middle-and-high school students, so please look forward to it in the future.

Another shareholder who attended the online meeting elaborated further on his blog that the 'Monster Hunter for middle-and-high schoolers' is referencing the PlayStation Portable era, where titles like Monster Hunter Freedom Unite and the Japan-only Monster Hunter Portable 3rd defined the portable console that was especially popular with students in Japan at the time.

However, this is not the first time for Capcom to state that they are not planning to bring Monster Hunter: World to Switch. At an earlier shareholder meeting held two years ago, they were also asked about the matter, to which Capcom responded clearly that they "cannot do it on Switch". However, they also implied that the Nintendo Switch will get a new Monster Hunter game that is tailored specifically to the console in the future.

The Nintendo Switch itself already has a Monster Hunter title in its library at the moment with Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate. Although it was basically a port of the enhanced edition of Monster Hunter Generations on Nintendo 3DS, Generations Ultimate had a massive amount of quests to undertake and monsters to hunt, as well as being the latest Monster Hunter with the traditional area division system, as Capcom revamped how the fields work in World.

Whether the 'Monster Hunter made specifically for Switch' from 2018 and the newer 'Monster Hunter aimed for Japanese middle-and-high schoolers' both refer to the same project or not remains yet to be seen. However, what's clear at this point is that Capcom definitely has a new Monster Hunter game in the works.