What just happened? Throughout its long history in the home video games market, Capcom has been known as a console-first company, but that started to change over the last few years with a slew of big releases on the PC. Now, the the Japanese giant's COO says it wants the PC to become its "main platform" going forward.

Speaking to Japanese publication Nikkei and translated by Bloomberg reporter Takashi Mochizuki, Capcom Chief Operating Officer Haruhiro Tsujimoto said that the company wants its games to have a 50/50 sales split between consoles and PC by 2022 or 2023.

"PC is driving global sales," he said. "We have recently stated that we will make the PC our main platform. At this year's Tokyo Game Show, we focused on exhibiting the PC version of Monster Hunter Rise, and I think people will be able to experience the change in our approach."

Tsujimoto says that the success it has found on the PC with its ports in recent years has led to this outlook---leaked sales figures suggest Monster Hunter World sold better on PC than PS4 outside of Japan---while the pandemic has improved the platform's reputation in Japan; a country where it has traditionally struggled against consoles, handhelds, and even phones.

"The pandemic is changing the way people look at PCs," he said. "Smartphones are convenient, but their screens are small, and their touch panels are difficult to operate, so they are not suitable for home working or school classes. I think PCs will be the next big thing after smartphones."

The executive added that "the PC can also play high-quality games, so the number of PC users should increase as understanding of the PC increases."

"We will expand our business for dedicated game consoles, which has been the mainstream up to now, but PC will be the mainstream in the future."

Capcom recently announced that Monster Hunter Rise for the PC will be released on January 13, 2022, with a slew of platform-specific features, including support for 4K resolution and ultrawide displays, uncapped framerates, improved textures, and optimized keyboard and mouse controls. A free demo for the PC version lands on October 13, and playing this taster will unlock a bonus for the full game once it launches.