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Nintendo has acquired 100% of Xenoblade developer Monolith Soft

Up until recently, the developer's founders still owned 4 percent of the studio.

TJ Denzer

December 11, 2024 10:00 AM

Image via Monolith Soft

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Monolith Soft, the longtime developers behind the Xenoblade series, seem to have been 100 percent acquired by Nintendo. While Nintendo has been publishing Monolith Soft games for years, it still only had a 96 percent stake in the company with the original founders holding the other four percent. That small holdout seems to have changed hands, and now Nintendo is said to own 100 percent of the developer.

Nintendo’s full ownership over Monolith Soft was noted on the studio’s website on its Company Overview page, which was spotted by Automaton. The change in ownership seems to have happened sometime since March 2024 this year when Nintendo was still listed as a 96 percent holder in Monolith’s company brochure.

Monolith Soft was founded by Hirohide Sugiura, Tetsuya Takahashi and Yasuyuki Honne, who were all previously working under Square Enix and the latter two of which served as director and lead artist Xenogears respectively. The group worked with Bandai Namco to create a spiritual successor known as Xenosaga before Nintendo bought 80 percent of the studio’s shares from Bandai Namco in 2007. Nintendo then increased its stake to 96 percent in 2011. However, the original founders still held a symbolic four percent stake in the company until recent events.

It’s unknown when or why the shares were sold, but it seems Nintendo now has full control over Monolith Soft. With Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition coming to Switch in March 2025, there’s plenty to be excited about from the two. Stay tuned for further updates as they drop, right here at Shacknews.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.