Rumour: Microsoft is working on a Monster Hunter style game

Monster Hunter: World became an absolute enormous hit awarded with raving reviews, that has passed 20 million sold games, with the expansion Iceborne closing in on ten million sold copies. It's easy to see why others might want in on this.

Like Microsoft for example, at least according to the journalist and insider Jeff Grubb. In the latest episode of the Giant Bomb podcast, he says:

"They're working with Certain Affinity on what seems like a Monster Hunter style game - a Monster Hunter clone. They see this gameplay style succeeding, and Microsoft's like, 'hey, we should try to make one of those, is anyone out there going to pitch one?'"

Certain Affinity is a Texas based developer founded by a group of former Bungie employees who worked on Halo. They are usually a reinforcement studio and have been involved in projects like Doom, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered and most recently Halo Infinite. Grubb continues by explaining the reasoning behind this Monster Hunter style game:

"They want more variety in the kinds of games they're putting on Game Pass and this is an example of that. They're like, 'we probably can't get Monster Hunter on Game Pass - that would be pretty expensive - but we definitely want a game like that, because we see the potential for that to grow and be a big thing with long-term support."

While nothing has been confirmed, Certain Affinity themselves has updated their homepage, writing:

"we're excited to reveal that we're leading development on a new original IP! Are we excited to take on a genre and style of game that we've always loved? Thrilled beyond words!"

While this could be something different, it does fit Jeff Grubb's description very well so we'd say there's a fair chance this story is true - but not officially confirmed.

Thanks VGC