has struggled with performance issues ever since it launched last year. Erratic frame rates, stuttering, and texture streaming glitches are visible across all platforms—even on the most powerful PCs that should run the game flawlessly. While many assumed this was due to Capcom’s poor optimization, the actual problem might be far more frustrating.
A Reddit user has uncovered the core reason behind Wilds’s lackluster performance in the Monster Hunter subreddit: the game repeatedly checks for in-game DLC licenses in the background, which causes performance to plummet. He’s optimistic Capcom will address the issue soon now that it’s been found, but adds he’s ready to release his own fixes if the developer fails to act.
On Thursday, De_Tylmarande told Inverse that “sadly [Capcom] still haven’t replied” to his messages about the Monster Hunter issue. Capcom did not immediately respond to Inverse’s request for comment.
The redditor explained his key discovery happened when he played Wilds using his friend’s account on his own computer. He noticed the performance drops he expected were gone. When he logged back into his own account and redownloaded the game, all the familiar issues returned. The only difference? His friend owned every piece of DLC for the game, while he did not.
To confirm DLC was the culprit, de_Tylmarande created a mod that fools his copy of Wilds into thinking all released DLC is present on his drive (without pirating the $500+ worth of paid skins and content). To his surprise, his usual performance hiccups were significantly reduced, validating his suspicion.
The user stated that a vanilla (no DLC) version of the game sees frame rates in player hubs drop to the low-to-mid 20s. In contrast, the modded version saw frame rates in those same areas jump up to 80 frames per second. He claims to have replicated these results on multiple PCs and even shared evidence to back up his findings.
“Capcom focused so heavily on microtransactions that they implemented an extremely flawed and aggressive DLC ownership check,” he wrote in his detailed explanation. “And no, it’s not about protection or anti-cheat or anything like that—it’s just a check to see if DLC is present.”
De_Tylmarande doesn’t believe Capcom did this intentionally; instead, it’s likely an oversight the company hasn’t noticed yet. He says he’s sent his discovery to Capcom support in the hope they’ll roll out a fix soon. However, if Capcom doesn’t address the issue, he plans to release his mod as an open-source solution.
This isn’t the first time De_Tylmarande has solved a performance issue for Capcom. He claims he reported an animation-related bug in Dragon’s Dogma 2 in 2024 that also dragged down frame rates. The bug was fixed in an April 10, 2024 patch, indicating Capcom is receptive to player-driven technical discoveries and feedback.
Despite being a more streamlined game than its predecessor, Monster Hunter Wilds . Unfortunately, its technical issues marred what would otherwise be a strong entry in the series. As of now, the game holds a Mixed user review rating on Steam, with many players complaining about the lack of optimization. Still, the game managed to be , becoming 2025’s .