One of the biggest games of the year so far, almost certainly the biggest, Monster Hunter Wilds is gearing up for launch on Friday, February 28. But there’s something else that you can do before then, which is the now somewhat standard practice of pre-loading the game before it arrives, so you can jump right in without waiting around for a huge file download.
Capcom has now released the global preload times for Monster Hunter Wilds, which are pretty easy to remember:
- Xbox Series X/S and PC/Steam – February 25, 9 PM PT in all regions
- PS5 – 48 hours before launch in each region
And what are the launch times in each region? I will probably circle back around to repost these down the line closer to launch, but if you want to know them all ahead of time to prepare your day off or whatever, here they are:
LOS ANGELES, USA (Thursday, February 27)
- Consoles: 9pm PST
- PC: 9pm PST
MEXICO CITY, MX (Thursday, February 27)
- Consoles: 12am CST
- PC: 11pm CST
TORONTO, CA
- Consoles: 12am EST
- PC: 12am EST
NEW YORK, USA
- Consoles: 12am EST
- PC: 12am EST
SÃO PAULO, BR
- Consoles: 12am BRT
- PC: 12am BRT
LONDON, UK
- Consoles: 12am GMT
- PC: 5am GMT
PARIS, FR
- Consoles: 12am CET
- PC: 6am CET
BERLIN, DE
- Consoles: 12am CET
- PC: 6am CET
CAIRO, EG
- Consoles: 12am EET
- PC: 7am EET
HELSINKI, FI
- Consoles: 12am EET
- PC: 9am EET
RIYADH, SA
- Consoles: 12am AST
- PC: 8am AST
DUBAI, UAE
- Consoles: 12am GST
- PC: 9am GST
JOHANNESBURG, ZA
- Consoles: 12am SAST
- PC: 7am SAST
SEOUL, KR
- Consoles: 12am KST
- PC: 2pm KST
TOKYO, JP
- Consoles: 12am JST
- PC: 2pm JST
SINGAPORE, SG
- Consoles: 12am SGT
- PC: 1pm SGT
AUCKLAND, NZ
- Consoles: 12am NZDT
- PC: 6pm NZDT
So, once again the lucky West Coast gets to play the game for a few hours a day early before bedtime. I am probably not going to boot it up at midnight here on the East Coast, as much as I do want to play. Monster Hunter Wilds is probably going to be the biggest game of at least the first half of this year. This is a year that of course will have a new Call of Duty in the fall, and allegedly, the release of Fable and Grand Theft Auto 6, but I would place money on both of those being delayed until 2026, no matter what their studios say.
Whatever the case, Monster Hunter Wilds has received great feedback in early tests, and this is going to be a massive launch. Do that preload and stay tuned.
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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
