Monster Hunter Wilds dev says the series' true turning point wasn't Monster Hunter World, but a PSP game that came out 10 years earlier
Years before Monster Hunter World, producer Ryozo Tsujimoto says a PSP game was the series' true turning point. Speaking to The Sankei Shimbun (translated via Google, DeepL), Tsujimoto notes that 2008's Monster Hunter Freedom 2 came "at a time when people were less likely to gather at friends' houses and play games together.