Have you ever pretended to be ill on the launch day of a game you're excited about just so you could take a sick day off work to play it? I'm willing to bet many gamers have, and if you're one of them, you've got something in common with the developers of 2024's hit creature collector RPG Palworld.
Pocketpair — the Japanese studio behind the game — publicly shared a memo sent to its employees internally on social media, revealing that it made Friday, February 28 a company-wide holiday and gave nearly everyone the day off. The reason? Tons of employees were sending in "mysterious reports" they'd be sick that day, which just so happened to be the release date of Capcom's highly anticipated ARPG Monster Hunter Wilds. I'm sure that was just a coincidence!
"Regarding February 28th, we have received a series of mysterious reports from many employees that they may feel unwell tomorrow, so the company has decided to institute a special holiday," the memo reads.
Addressing the public in the memo, Pocketpair added: “Please note that updates to Palworld and Craftopia are progressing smoothly and are expected to be implemented as scheduled.”
With how extremely popular Monster Hunter is in Japan in general, it's hardly surprising that so many of Palworld's employees were willing to call in sick so they could spend the day checking out Wilds. And frankly, with how strong the new game is already performing, I'd wager plenty of folks around the world have done the same.
Just this morning, Monster Hunter Wilds rocketed past 1 million concurrent players on Steam alone, and has surpassed Cyberpunk 2077 to become the seventh most played title in Steam history (countless others are surely joining in on Xbox Series X|S and PS5). The monumental launch success follows a slew of positive reviews from press and critics, with the game enjoying a Metacritic score of 90 and an 89 on Opencritic.
Despite that explosive start, though, Wilds isn't reviewing well with players — at least not the ones embarking on hunts with a PC. At the time of writing, only 48% of the game's 14,140 Steam reviews are positive, earning it a cautionary yellow "Mixed" rating on Valve's PC gaming platform.
The overwhelming majority of negative reviews cite terrible optimization and numerous performance issues, even when hardware far surpasses Monster Hunter Wilds' PC spec requirements. Notably, some user and critic reviews alike also assert that the game is way too easy and effortless to play — a sentiment echoed in our own Monster Hunter Wilds review.
"Without some balance tweaks, I'm not sure Monster Hunter Wilds will achieve the longevity of its predecessor, but new players may appreciate the gentler learning curve," writes Windows Central Executive Editor Jez Corden.
But while its PC performance leaves much to be desired and the lack of challenge may leave some hardcore fans feeling abandoned, most agree that there's a strong foundation for Capcom to work off of here. After all, it supported its 2018 predecessor Monster Hunter Worlds with years of major improvements and content additions, so there's no reason to believe the same won't happen with this 2025 follow-up.
And hey, even if you ate into some of your sick leave to play Wilds only to find yourself disappointed with its current state, at least you've got the day off, right? That's more than I can say.
Monster Hunter Wilds may not be in the best state right now — especially if you're playing it on PC — but nevertheless, it has the potential to grow into one of the best Xbox games and best PC games to play if you're into ARPG battles with giant monsters. It's normally $69.99, but thanks to this deal, you can get the PC version for just $58.79 at GreenManGaming.
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