Image: Capcom

The Monster Hunter franchise is bringing, well, monster hunting to your smartphone. Capcom has announced that it’s teaming up with TiMi — the studio behind games like Call of Duty: Mobile and Pokémon Unite — for a spinoff called Monster Hunter Outlanders. It’s described as an “open-world survival game” that’s playable either solo or co-op with up to four players. It sounds like Outlanders will feature the core aspects of a MonHun experience (namely, the exploring, hunting, and crafting) but with live service and social elements typical of a mobile game.

MonHun has become a huge global franchise since the launch of Monster Hunter World in 2018, which went on to become Capcom’s bestselling game. Since then, there’s been a live-action movie, the smaller-scale Monster Hunter Rise, and a location-based game made in collaboration with Pokémon Go developer Niantic. Capcom is also prepping for the next major release in the series with Monster Hunter Wilds next year.

That recent success, combined with TiMi’s history and MonHun’s pedigree as a portable experience, are positive signs this could be more than a mobile cash grab. It might be some time before we get to check out the game for ourselves, however, as it doesn’t currently have a release date. Capcom says there will be “several play tests in advance” of the eventual launch.