Summary
OneMonster Hunter Wildsfan was reportedly able to purchase the upcoming action-RPG from Capcom a couple of days early thanks to a Walmart store employee’s error. This player isn’t sharing many early impressions or secrets from their unintentional early access toMonster Hunter Wilds, but they’ve still earned the envy of other fans of the franchise who have to wait for its release.
The next mainline installment in the monster-slaying series that dates back to 2004 has held fans' interest since it was first announced more than a year ago in a reveal trailer at The Game Awards 2023 presentation. The wait is almost over, asMonster Hunter Wilds' releaseis scheduled to hit the west coast of North America at 9 p.m. on July 24, 2025, and the east coast at midnight on February 28.
But one fan claims to have purchased aphysical copy ofMonster Hunter Wildsat least two days early from their local Walmart location. Sharing an image of what appears to be them holding the case of the PlayStation 5 version of the game as they sit in their car outside the store, Reddit user Inevitable0117 claims that they found the game sitting on a store shelf and took it to the checkout. According to their report, the store employee was originally unable to sell the game because of an apparent recall code that had been programmed into the store’s point-of-sale system, but the employee was convinced it was a mistake and entered an override code, allowing the sale to go forward.
Walmart May Have Sold Monster Hunter Wilds Copy Early
The only bit of information this player seems to have leaked concernsarmor inMonster Hunter Wilds. Asked by a fellow fan whether the game will retain the ability from previous installments that allows players to dye or change the color of different pieces of armor, the player who reportedly bought the game early confirmed that this feature is present.
This isn’t the first reported instance in recent memory of an error resulting in a player getting their hands on an unreleased game early. Earlier this week, reports from across the Internet stated that multiplecopies ofAssassin’s Creed Shadowshad been sold before launch, with that game not scheduled to hit store shelves or online marketplaces until July 03, 2025. Publisher Ubisoft seems to have confirmed these reports, which reportedly came from a combination of store sales and errors with the PlayStation Network, asking that fans avoid viewing any of the leaked footage, as it does not reflect the final product that will be released late next month.
