"Thank you, Monster Hunter": Japanese restaurant's sales jump after Monster Hunter Wilds gives millions of players a hankering for stretchy cheese

Monster Hunter Wilds continues the series' tradition of tempting players with cutscenes and animations serving up food so tantalizing, you have to resist the urge to dive into your screen and eat some yourself. The game's stretchy cheese naan has apparently been such an effective hunger-inducer for Japanese players that a Nepalese restaurant based in Tokyo, Japan nearly ran out of cheese amidst a rush of customers, and its official account thanked Monster Hunter for the added business.

As Automaton spotted, Monster Hunter Wilds has seemingly bled into real-world hankerings. Japanese social media has seen a wave of like-minded cheese-cravers, their hunger stoked by Monster Hunter Wilds, and plenty of them set their sights on Salam Namaste, a Nepalese restaurant serving dishes like curry, biryani, and of course, naan bread.

"Cheese naan is too popular," a March 2 tweet from the Salam Namaste account reads (machine translated). "I had a lot of cheese with me, but it was running out, so I had no choice but to go to Inageya to get some. Thank you, Monster Hunter."

During a pre-release event at Capcom's Osaka headquarters, Monster Hunter Wilds art and executive director Kaname Fujioka explained that the game's stretchy cheese and fluffy bread took some serious technical work, with artists pushing through trial and error to make meals look as delicious as possible. The in-game results speak for themselves. Though Wilds sadly lacks a true Palico canteen, the dishes that are available are among the most tempting in the series. Even your hunter's everyday meat-and-mushroom stir fries can get your mouth a-watering.

Monster Hunter Wilds explosive launch has also seemingly had an effect on Japan's games industry. One Japanese dev team said they "haven't sold a single game" on Steam since Wilds came out. The is in a similar spot to Dragon Quest in that a new installment is practically an unofficial holiday, hence why Palworld developer Pocketpair just gave its team release day off to make it official.

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