Product Code Database
group=lower-alpha trade name Monolith Soft, is a Japanese video game developer based in Tokyo. It is best known for creating the Xeno series. Originally founded in 1999 by Square alumnus Tetsuya Takahashi as a studio under Namco (later Namco Bandai Games), it was bought out by Nintendo in 2007. Their first project was the Xenosaga series, a spiritual successor to the Square-developed Xenogears. With Nintendo, they developed the Xenoblade Chronicles series in addition to developmental assistance on Nintendo-developed games. Multiple Square alumni would join Takahashi at Monolith Soft, including Hirohide Sugiura and Yasuyuki Honne.
In addition to the Xeno series, Monolith Soft worked on other projects including and Namco × Capcom, the precursor to their later Project X Zone series, along with assisting on projects from other developers. While several of its games have released on the PlayStation 2, all of its games have released on Nintendo platforms following the acquisition.
As of 2022, Monolith Soft operates in three locations in Japan; its main office in Meguro, Tokyo and the secondary Osaki Studio similarly based in Tokyo, who produce the company's original video game properties; and a studio in Kyoto with mainly artists as its employees, which acts as an assisting developer for both Monolith Soft Tokyo and for some Nintendo internal franchises. According to an interview published on the website of the company in February 2022, Monolith Soft's Kyoto studio has over 30 employees, which would leave the Tokyo studios with roughly 230 staff in total.
The design approaches of Monolith Soft have shifted over its lifetime, with early games such as Xenosaga and Baten Kaitos being distinguished by a narrative-heavy approach, while later games have focused more on gameplay. The company's stated goals are to create projects with wide creative freedom and to allow younger developers to contribute to these projects. The company is also notable for its focus on promoting a comfortable working environment with little to no overtime in contrast to the majority of other Japanese game developers, alongside collaborating with other studios and companies.
In 1999, Takahashi talked with Hirohide Sugiura, who had likewise worked at Square and was beginning to feel frustrated due to a lack of creative freedom. After discussing the matter, the two decided to create their own company and pursue projects they wanted to create. When planning their new company, Takahashi and Sugiura decided that they needed a publisher with substantial market presence to help them rather than being an independent studio. Takahashi and Sugiura approached multiple companies for support, but most of the companies they contacted outright rejected their offer as they believed that Monolith Soft should be an independent company. However, Namco were interested in investing into Monolith Soft as a dedicated subsidiary, while handling logistics and marketing so that the core staff could focus on game development. An important supporter of Monolith Soft was Namco's founder Masaya Nakamura, who shared many of Takahashi and Sugiura's goals and ideals. Monolith Soft is noted as being one of a group of video game companies—alongside Sacnoth, Love-de-Lic and Mistwalker—founded by Square staff who had worked on notable games produced during the 1990s. The company was officially founded on 1 October 1999 by Takahashi, Sugiura, and Yasuyuki Honne, who had worked at Square on both the Chrono series and with Takahashi on Xenogears. The company's offices were originally based in Yokohama.
Following the release of the first Xenosaga game, Takahashi and Sugiura reassessed the internal structure of Monolith Soft, determining that the current lead developers were too old, clashing with their intended goals for the company to foster young talent. With this mindset, Takahashi stepped down from his lead role in the Xenosaga series. He continued to work for the company in a supervisory role by providing the series' scenario drafts, while younger staff continued the series development. This move also allowed Takahashi a greater degree of creative freedom in a number of projects as opposed to being tied to a single series. In May 2002, Monolith Soft moved from Yokohama to their current offices in Meguro, Tokyo. The next entry in the Xenosaga series, Xenosaga Episode II, began development under a new team following the release of Episode I. While developing Episode II, the staff shifted their focus from the main series to help tell the story through multiple media. Among these additional projects was , a spin-off title for mobile devices co-developed with Tom Create and Namco Mobile. Pied Piper was Tanaka's last work on the Xenosaga series. Beginning in 2003, Monolith Soft also developed Namco × Capcom, a PlayStation 2 crossover game featuring characters from various Namco and Capcom video games. The idea was proposed by Monolith Soft, with development lasting two years.
In 2006, Monolith Soft was involved in four released games; , Xenosaga I & II, Xenosaga Episode III and Baten Kaitos Origins. Dirge of Cerberus was primarily developed by Square Enix with Monolith Soft providing development support. Xenosaga I & II was an expanded re-imagining of the first two games for the Nintendo DS, and is notable for being Monolith Soft's first title for handheld game consoles. The game was co-developed by Tom Create in collaboration with multiple staff who had worked on the for the first Xenosaga. Xenosaga Episode III began development in 2004. While Xenosaga was planned as a hexalogy, the new team decided to restructure the series as a trilogy. Episode III was the last planned entry in the series, with further games depending on its commercial success. The mixed commercial and critical performance of the Xenosaga series left Monolith Soft's development staff in a state of low morale. Baten Kaitos Origins, again co-developed with tri-Crescendo, was released late in the lifespan of the GameCube shortly before the release of Nintendo's new home console the Wii. A Baten Kaitos game for the DS was also in development at Monolith Soft, but Namco, which by this point had merged with Bandai to become Namco Bandai Games, cancelled the project. A third Baten Kaitos game was in early development for "a long time" according to Honne, but was cancelled due to unspecified circumstances. Future efforts with the series depended upon both fan demand and the cooperation of IP owners Namco.
Monolith Soft's first releases following its acquisition by Nintendo were Soma Bringer and for the Nintendo DS and for the Wii, all released in 2008. Soma Bringer was the company's first portable title to be developed entirely in-house, it was designed as an experience driven by gameplay rather than narrative. Multiple returning staff from the Xenosaga series including Takahashi and Tanaka contributed to the game. Super Robot Wars OG Saga: Endless Frontier, a crossover RPG, was co-developed with Namco Bandai and featured cameo appearances from Monolith Soft's Xenosaga series. Disaster: Day of Crisis, Monolith Soft's first and to-date only non-RPG game, was intended as a showcase for the capabilities of the Wii. Due to quality concerns and Monolith Soft's unfamiliarity with the Wii hardware, it was delayed from its planned 2006 release by two years. Monolith Soft was also chosen to develop due to their pedigree at developing RPGs. During this period they assisted in the development of Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
From mid 2006, Takahashi was working on a separate project; struck by an idea of rival civilizations emerging on the frozen bodies of two warring gods, he and Honne constructed a model of the two gods to better visualize the idea. After bringing their idea to Nintendo producer Hitoshi Yamagami, the team began development in 2007. Takahashi later stated that the game's development acted as a means of boosting company morale after the failure of the Xenosaga series. The director, Koh Kojima, started his directorial debut with this game, having previously written the scenario for Baten Kaitos Origins. This game also saw a shift away from the narrative-heavy approach of Monolith Soft's earlier work, which Takahashi stated had been called out as old-fashioned. In contrast to many earlier Monolith Soft projects, the game was designed with an international release in mind. The intended scale of the game caused problems, and Takahashi reluctantly went to Yamagami with a list of proposals to cut down the game to a suitable size as he was accustomed to doing for previous projects. Yamagami rejected all of Takahashi's suggestions, instead persuading Nintendo to keep supporting the project and allow the team to complete their work as envisioned. Originally titled Monado: Beginning of the World, Iwata had the title changed to honor Takahashi's previous work on Xenogears and the Xenosaga franchise. The new title was Xenoblade Chronicles.
The next game released from Monolith Soft, again in collaboration with Namco Bandai Games, was Project X Zone for the Nintendo 3DS. A successor to Namco × Capcom, the game received development support from and featured characters from franchises owned by Namco Bandai, Capcom and Sega. Following the release of Xenoblade Chronicles, Monolith Soft was also working on a follow-up titled Xenoblade Chronicles X for the Wii U. A spiritual successor to the first game, and the company's first high-definition video game title, Xenoblade Chronicles X shifted from a story-driven to an open world gameplay-driven structure. The incorporation of an extensive multiplayer element resulted in its release being delayed and the narrative being substantially altered. Monolith Soft also developed a sequel to Project X Zone, Project X Zone 2. In addition to changing the character roster selected from Sega, Capcom and Bandai Namco, the game introduced characters from the Nintendo franchise Fire Emblem in addition to characters from Xenoblade Chronicles.
During the last development stages of Xenoblade Chronicles X, Monolith Soft began work on a new Xenoblade title for the Nintendo Switch. Titled Xenoblade Chronicles 2, the game returned to the story-driven structure of Xenoblade Chronicles while building upon the gameplay and technology of Xenoblade Chronicles X. One of the game's story prototypes was later turned into an expansion titled , released in 2018. In addition to this, Monolith Soft also began development of an action game, hiring new staff for the project. The company opened new studios in Nakameguro and Iidabashi during 2017 and 2018. The 1st Production team, known for their work on the Xenoblade Chronicles series, started hiring staff for development of a new RPG project in October 2018. In March 2019, the 2nd Production team started hiring staff for a new project in The Legend of Zelda franchise. Between 2018 and 2019, the Iidabashi studio closed. In April 2019, in the wake of high revenue during the 2018–2019 fiscal period, the company opened a new studio in Ōsaki, Tokyo.
Nintendo acquired full control of Monolith Soft by December 2024. In 2025, the studio released a remastered version of Xenoblade Chronicles X on the Nintendo Switch.
| + List of games developed by Monolith Soft ! scope="col" | Year ! scope="col" | Title ! scope="col" | Platform ! scope="col" | Publisher ! scope="col" class="unsortable" | |
| 2002 ! scope="row" | Xenosaga Episode I | PlayStation 2 | Namco | ||
| 2003 ! scope="row" | GameCube | ||||
| 2004 ! scope="row" | Xenosaga Freaks | PlayStation 2 | |||
| 2005 ! scope="row" | Namco × Capcom | PlayStation 2 | |||
| 2006 ! scope="row" | Baten Kaitos Origins | GameCube | Nintendo | ||
| 2008 ! scope="row" | Soma Bringer | Nintendo DS | Nintendo | ||
| 2009 ! scope="row" | Nintendo DS | Namco Bandai Games | |||
| 2010 ! scope="row" | |||||
| 2012 ! scope="row" | Project X Zone | Nintendo 3DS | Namco Bandai Games | ||
| 2015 ! scope="row" | Xenoblade Chronicles X | Wii U | Nintendo | ||
| 2017 ! scope="row" | Xenoblade Chronicles 2 | Nintendo Switch | Nintendo | ||
| 2018 ! scope="row" | |||||
| 2020 ! scope="row" | |||||
| 2022 ! scope="row" | Xenoblade Chronicles 3 | ||||
| 2025 ! scope="row" |
| + List of games with assistance by Monolith Soft ! scope="col" | Year ! scope="col" | Title ! scope="col" | Platform ! scope="col" | Publisher !Additional Notes ! scope="col" class="unsortable" | |
| 2006 ! scope="row" | PlayStation 2 | Square Enix | |||
| 2008 ! scope="row" | Super Smash Bros. Brawl | Wii | Nintendo | ||
| 2011 ! scope="row" | Monolith Soft Tokyo | ||||
| 2012 ! scope="row" | Nintendo 3DS | Monolith Soft Kyoto | |||
| 2013 ! scope="row" | Pikmin 3 | Wii U | |||
| 2015 ! scope="row" | Splatoon | Wii U | |||
| 2017 ! rowspan="2" scope="row" | Nintendo Switch | Monolith Soft Tokyo 2nd Production Team | |||
| Wii U | |||||
| 2020 ! scope="row" | |||||
| 2022 ! scope="row" | Splatoon 3 | ||||
| 2023 ! scope="row" | Monolith Soft Tokyo 2nd Production Team | ||||
| 2025 ! scope="row" | Mario Kart World | Nintendo Switch 2 | Monolith Soft Kyoto |
Speaking about the move from Namco Bandai to Nintendo, Sugiura commented that it was a challenge to only be developing games for a single group of consoles. Nintendo endorsed the challenge to Monolith Soft with incentives such as making a particular game within given hardware specifications, providing the company time and resources to accomplish that. Another factor that changed within Monolith Soft's development process was Nintendo's increased quality control, which would moot any project that did not have the desired quality for their systems. This sense of challenge was also echoed by Takahashi, who described both Xenoblade Chronicles and Xenoblade Chronicles X as being defined by self-imposed challenges to the development team when creating the environments on limited gaming hardware. Monolith Soft's scope and goals are often attributed to Takahashi's drive and ambition. While commonly associated with Japanese role-playing games (JRPGs), Monolith Soft focuses more on making role-playing games for a worldwide audience.
Rather than a fixed development structure, Monolith Soft chooses to freely assign staff based on the direction a project takes, in addition to believing in collaborations with other companies on projects rather than developing entirely in-house. According to a 2012 interview with Takahashi, a prerequisite for working at Monolith Soft is a deep passion for games in addition to general knowledge outside the field. As opposed to many other Japanese and Western studios which have come under criticism for excessive overtime and poor working conditions, Monolith Soft strives for a friendly working environment and reasonable hours for its staff. Overtime is also negotiated with the management and receives payment, a rarity in Japanese business. Speaking in relation to this approach, Honne recited the company's motto; "Zero overtime and creative work allowed". Despite the gaming industry's workforce being dominated by men, Monolith Soft has a notably high proportion of female developers working at the company, with more than a quarter of its workforce in total.
|
|
