Capcom announced this week that Monster Hunter World has sold more than 7.5 million copies in just five weeks, making it the company’s best-selling game EVER. It sold more than any individual Resident Evil or Street Fighter title, despite only being out for just over a month. And it hasn’t even been released on PC yet.

When Monster Hunter World was announced at E3 last year, I named it my game of the show and couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. But I was a bit sceptical about whether it would break through in the West – after all, the previous entries in the series have sold poorly in Europe and the US, whereas they’ve been monster (pun intended) hits in Japan.

But it seems the changes Capcom have made to make the game more player friendly have paid off – not only is it much easier to get into now, it seems to have attracted a huge audience of new players. And of course it helps that the game is on PS4 and Xbox One – there’s no way that the game could have achieved its success by launching on 3DS alone, or even Switch.

Speaking of the Switch, Capcom have said that the game was specifically developed for PS4 and Xbox One, so there’s no Switch version immediately incoming. But given the enormous sales of the game so far, I wouldn’t be surprised if the company had greenlit a Switch version to cash in on that huge market. It would be a challenge to squeeze this fantastic looking title on to a Switch cart, but the Switch version of Doom shows that it’s possible to do great things with Nintendo’s portable console – I’m sure Capcom could find a way.

And speaking of graphics, MHW really looks fantastic – fighting monsters in HD is far more satisfying and dramatic than battling beasts on a tiny 3DS screen. It looks great, it plays great, and it also happens to have one of the most friendly online communities out there.

I don’t normally play games online, but Monster Hunter World is the big exception. It’s the game that made me decide to get a PlayStation Plus subscription, and this week I even bought my first ever gaming headset just to use when playing the game online with my sister. If Monster Hunter World can convince a lifelong online-gaming sceptic to part with cash for the privilege of playing online, it’s clearly doing something right.

The only problem I have with Monster Hunter World is that it’s so damn good I just can’t tear myself away from it. I have a big pile of games that deserve some love – not least the metroidvania Dandara, which I’ve started and already love – but I just can’t stop playing Monster Hunter World. I’m over 40 hours in, and yet I still feel like I’ve only just scratched the surface of what the game has to offer.

If you want to join me on the hunt, my PSN name is LPMerriweather – give me a shout!