Monster Hunter 3 now a Nintendo exclusive

Capcom has said that the high development costs of working on the PlayStation 3 are the reason the publisher is moving its latest Monster Hunter title to the Nintendo Wii.

Previous Monster Hunter games were Sony exclusives for the PS2 and PSP, and the company has enjoyed considerable success with the franchise clocking up sales of over 4.5 million units.

"Due to high development cost of titles for PS3, we have decided to switch the platform to which we release our Monster Hunter 3 title," said Katsuhiko Ichii, Capcom's managing corporate officer, according to Thompson Financial.

Capcom revealed Monster Hunter 3 for the Wii at a recent Nintendo press briefing, although it had originally said the game would appear on the PlayStation 3.

The publisher said earlier this month that it was now shifting its development strategy for Sony products to the PlayStation 3, where previously it had dedicated the majority of its efforts on the PlayStation 2.