It’s finally some good news on the back of the COVID-19 complications that have upended vast segments of the developed world, throwing lives into an ineffable hiatus as we all peer outside of our windows while waiting for the threat of the newest pandemic to pass.
Thanks to Japan taking the threat of COVID-19 seriously, either due to their general proximity to the origins of the reported outbreak or because they manage to have competent leaders in charge of the nation, they have officially lifted the state of emergency that was invoked to alleviate the threat of the pandemic.
What this means for fans of the gaming industry, or perhaps more specifically for fans of the industry, is that developers are now back to the soulless grind of game development for us to critique with reckless abandon.
Specifically, Capcom has announced that they are now back to work on the fourth free update for Monster Hunter: World.
A thankfully early end to the reported hiatus that Capcom needed to take from active development.
The update is now slated to release early in July, bringing about language localization with voice acting along with Alatreon, the frightening elemental monster that has been terrorizing hunters since Monster Hunter 3 released in 2009.
It’s worth noting that this is presuming that the second wave of COVID-19 cases does not impact Japan as it has been showing in various other nations, where cases once again rise after a downfall as countries reopen to help stimulate their flagging economies. Such a second wave could have a detrimental impact on the fourth free update to Monster Hunter: World.
Many fans are wondering why Capcom doesn’t have their developers working from home to patch the title and craft content from the safety and comfort of their own homes, as many other development studios have done during the pandemic, yet it’s all a moot point at this juncture.
There has been active management of the title on Steam, however, ranging from in-game events to unique quests that revolve around the Iceborne DLC that is still arguably very new, with Hunters crawling through the trove of content that the DLC has added on PC recently after an exclusive window on consoles.
It’s currently unknown how much the state of emergency has affected the other titles that Capcom has wanted to bring to light this year, or their production schedule in general. Based entirely off of what we know is true for the schedule of Iceborne post-launch support, however, it’s likely that they will be unable to reach their veritable slew of titles that they wanted to release in 2020.