Monster Hunter 4 pre-orders top 1 million - rumour

Japanese pre-orders for Monster Hunter 4 have already surpassed 1 million units, according to a retail leak.

The news comes from Japanese retail blog Sinobi, which is generally reliable, translated by Siliconera.

The blogger believes Capcom's initial shipment will be 600,000 units, with later shipments of 200,000 to 300,000 units to follow.

With online sales factored in, Sinobi expects Capcom to have up to 1.5 million units ready for the launch window.

For comparison purposes, one of the best-selling 3DS games this year is Tomodachi Collection: New Life, which topped the charts for several consecutive weeks and has sold 1.4 million units to date. Animal Crossing: New Leaf, which launched in November 2012, has sold through 3 million units; New Super Mario Bros. 2 from July 2012 shifted 2.2 million; and Mario Kart 7 has sold-through 2.1 million times since its release in December 2011.

Capcom has said it hopes to sell 2.8 million copies of Monster Hunter 4 by the end of March 2014.

Monster Hunter 4 got a near-perfect score in Famitsu. Western release has not been confirmed.