Sakae Osumi, Senior Producer at Niantic Inc. on Monster Hunter Now • Interview Series

Listen up, Hunters — Niantic Inc. is gearing up to release a treasure trove of fresh content for its universally acclaimed mobile ARPG, Monster Hunter Now. Aptly titled Curse of the Wandering Flames, the latest update will reportedly be bringing a wide array of fresh features, including a new cooking mode, weapons, items, and even a Streamer Mode.

To learn more about the latest season in the Monster Hunter universe, I decided to reach out to the folks over at Niantic…

Monster Hunter Now is something of a household name in the mobile gaming world. However, for the sake of covering all bases, please could you tell us a bit more about it? What sort of game is it, and what can newcomers expect to unearth?

Sakae: Monster Hunter Now is a location-based action RPG that brings the rich universe of Monster Hunter to mobile devices for the first time. By exploring the world around you, you can discover monsters to fight, gather resources to forge new and stronger weapons and armour, complete quests and join other Hunters to defeat even more challenging creatures.

It’s official: Season 3 of Monster Hunter Now is on the horizon, and we’re excited to unravel more of it as it looks to hit Android and iOS this September. With that said, there’s still so much we don’t know about Curse of the Wandering Flames. Please could you tell us about it?

Sakae: Curse of the Wandering Flames brings a lot of new things to the game. Firstly, it introduces the much-loved Cooking feature from the main series into Monster Hunter Now. Another new feature is Streamer Mode, enabling some personal information to be hidden when sharing gameplay content. The new season also introduces new monsters, a new weapon, new supply items and free Item Box Expansion slots!

Monster Hunter has a reputation for being a relatively tough cookie to crack. Tell us, are there any useful tips that are likely to aid players’ success on the battlefield?

Sakae: Monster Hunter Now doesn’t have as steep a learning curve as the mainline Monster Hunter titles, but a good tip is to upgrade your weapons and armour as soon and as often as you can as this will enable you to unlock skills and improve your performance against tougher opponents!

🐾 Update on September EVENTS! 🐾

Hunters, check out the September event lineup now over on the blog! Get ready to dive into Season 3 and celebrate our 1st anniversary with us 🎉#MHNow

Find out more:https://t.co/99SKUcvqc2 pic.twitter.com/lhjPr2wGqg

— Monster Hunter Now (@MH_Now_EN) September 3, 2024

With Curse of the Wandering Flames afloat, we’d love to hear more about the future of Monster Hunter Now. Do you have any major plans to broaden the franchise in the fourth quarter, or in 2025, perhaps?

Sakae: We have some very exciting plans for Monster Hunter Now in 2025, but we can’t reveal them yet – stay tuned for more news soon though!

Monster Hunter Now is about to celebrate its first anniversary on Android and iOS, too. How will you be celebrating this milestone?

Sakae: Our anniversary celebrations are already underway, including the launch of a video with the first year in numbers! Over the past year, we’ve released various new features, events, seasonal updates, as well as the addition of monsters, weapon types and equipment. We are constantly discussing improvements to existing features and exploring new ways to play – and we’re committed to making Monster Hunter Now enjoyable for the next five, ten years, and beyond. And of course, there are some freebies for Hunters too!

You’ve also collaborated with the likes of Mr Beast and other prolific media personalities, too. Do you have any plans to team up with other artists and creators in the future?

Sakae: We deeply appreciate and respect the work of creators and are always keen to collaborate with those whose passions align with ours.

⚠MrBeast Challenge is ENDING SOON⚠

Monster Hunter Now x MrBeast Challenge event is ending on Monday, 9/2 8:59am PST! 👀

Go hunt for your special time-limited rewards while it lasts 🎁#MHNowhttps://t.co/hCTOJ1fY7q pic.twitter.com/rRl2IIzgFN

— Monster Hunter Now (@MH_Now_EN) September 2, 2024

It seems only natural that we stay up to date with a game that’s as ever-evolving as Monster Hunter Now. Tell us, where are the best places to source updates on the game?

Sakae: You can find all the updates about the game on our website, or by following us on social media (we’re on TikTok, X, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube). Hunters can also listen to all the music from the game through our Spotify playlist!

Is there anything you would like to add for our readers before we go ahead and close the book?

Sakae: In October, we have plenty of updates planned, including Monster Hunter Now’s first-ever major live event in Japan, in-game events, monster additions, and more. And looking further ahead, 2025 is going to be a huge year for the entire Monster Hunter franchise!

We appreciate you taking the time to speak with us! We’re looking forward to seeing more of the Monster Hunter world over the coming weeks!

You can catch more of Monster Hunter Now by visiting the official social channel here. Failing that, you can also check in with the website for additional updates and live coverage here.