How to play Monster Hunter Wilds early using New Zealand trick

The time for waiting is over as Monster Hunter Wilds, one of the biggest games of 2025, is now available—and you can dive in early using the New Zealand trick.

Monster Hunter Wilds officially releases on Feb. 28, going live at midnight local time across the world, and the staggered release means that those down under are theoretically the first able to enjoy the game. But the door isn’t entirely shut to those elsewhere in the world.

The guide below outlines the process to access Monster Hunter Wilds early on Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5, along with details on the PC version.

How to play Monster Hunter Wilds early on Xbox Series X|S

Xbox players have the easiest way to play Monster Hunter Wilds early using the New Zealand trick, with only a few tweaks to settings required to take advantage. The full steps are outlined below.

1. Open the Settings menu on your console.
2. Select “System” from the options menu.
3. Choose “Language and Location”.
4. Select New Zealand from the options available.
5. Restart your console and sign back into your account.

Once you have followed the steps above, Monster Hunter Wilds will be loadable, and the pop-up informing you that you are too early to play the title will disappear.

How to play Monster Hunter Wilds early on PlayStation 5

PlayStation 5 players can also take advantage of a trick to play Monster Hunter Wilds early, although the steps are slightly more complicated than those on Xbox Series X|S, and it won’t work if you have already pre-ordered the game. To access early, follow these steps:

1. Create a new PlayStation account with a different email address, setting the location to New Zealand—or sign into a New Zealand account if you created one previously.
2. Pre-order Monster Hunter Wilds from the New Zealand store.
3. The game will then be accessible as the pre-order is locked to the region you purchased it.

Unfortunately, this means you cannot play Monster Hunter Wilds early if you have already pre-ordered the game from the PlayStation store in a different region.

Can you play Monster Hunter Wilds early on PC?

There are no shortcuts for Monster Hunter Wilds players on PC as, unlike the console versions, the PC release of the title has a global release time—meaning it is playable to everyone in the world at the same time, regardless of the location.

On PC, Monster Hunter Wilds releases at 9pm PT/11pm CT on Feb. 27, which is 1am ET/5am GMT/4pm AEDT on Feb. 28. While this means players in the United States, depending on location, can play the game a few hours earlier than the official release date, those elsewhere in the world will have to wait until later in the day.