Monster Hunter Wilds New Zealand Trick: How to play early and who can do it

With Monster Hunter Wilds featuring a 12 am local time launch for consoles, you will have noticed the community talking about Xbox players having an undue advantage. The green console users can play earlier than their compatriots on other platforms using what is colloquially phrased as the New Zealand method/trick.

Now, of course, if you are already in New Zealand, you will get to play the game at launch irrespective of being on Xbox Series X|S or PS5. But for those who aren't and are looking to play Monster Hunter Wilds a bit early, check out this guide.

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How to use the New Zealand trick to play Monster Hunter Wilds early on Xbox

To play MH Wilds earlier than others on Xbox, follow these steps:

• Go to Settings on Xbox Series X|S.
• Select System.
• Choose Language and Location.
• Select New Zealand.
• Restart your console.

This option is only available for Xbox users as mentioned ahead. For context, 12 am NZDT on February 28, 2025, is 3 am PT on February 27.

On PlayStation, PSN user accounts are locked to specific regions during creation. The only workaround here with PS that's a hit or miss is creating a new account on your console, setting its region to New Zealand, and then enabling Console Sharing and Offline Play on the main account with Monster Hunter Wilds. For PC users, MH Wilds has a single global release time you can keep a tab on with our countdown guide.

There's a whole world to explore in MH Wilds (Image via Sportskeeda Gaming/Capcom)

Players can already preload Monster Hunter Wilds on their preferred platform so that they don't have to wait once the game launches. Those who have played the Open Beta Test and completed it can also transfer their character creation data to the full game post-launch.

Meanwhile, if you are wondering whether MH Wilds is worth purchasing, check out our full review to make up your mind.

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Check out other Monster Hunter guides:

• MH Wilds: 5 previous monsters that Capcom should add in TUs
• MH Wilds PC guide: Best settings for RTX 3080 and 3080 Ti
• MH Wilds: Is the Deluxe Edition worth buying?