Monster Hunter X isn’t a numbered Monster Hunter game. Judging by everything Capcom have said so far, it’s more of an experiment to try and stretch Monster Hunter in different directions and see what sticks. In a recent interview with Famitsu, members of the development team were asked why they chose “X” (pronounced “Cross”) to represent the game’s title.

“Just as we said earlier, old and new elements cross over together [in the game]—so it bears the connotation of mingling,” says Monster Hunter X producer Shintaro Kojima. “Moreover, the letter X looks like it divides the given space into four… so four hunting styles, four large main monsters, four villages. They’re all crossing.”

“We actually hesitated a lot [when coming up with the title],” series producer Ryozo Tsujimoto adds. “Many title candidates were brought up, but ultimate it was the power of the letter’s appearance… the force one feels from the ‘Cross’ that led to [the choice of X].”

Meanwhile, director Yasunori Ichinose clarifies: “It isn’t as though there was a particular reason for the number four; it just came about naturally through discussions.” He later adds: “It was the same when creating the main monster. Usually, we only create one monster to highlight, but by making four of them we could think about creating monsters we couldn’t make so far.”

“The same goes for the hunting styles. We though that bringing out the individual play styles of players and increasing the amount of freedom through several play styles would be nice… and that’s how the different elements diversified and each of them just so happened to total up to four. It wasn’t predetermined, but personally speaking, I feel things worked out rather nicely in the end.”