Nintendo now fully owns Monolith Software, more than a decade after both companies first got into bed together.
Monolith Soft has long been producing games and series with Xeno in the title, starting with Square Enix's Xenogears, Bandai Namco's Xenosaga, and now Nintendo's Xenoblade games. It also supports everything from Super Smash Bros. Brawl to The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, but its relationship with the Big N didn't start with a clear-cut acquisition.
Nintendo acquired 80% of the studio's shares in 2007, before also buying 16% more from its previous parent company in 2011, giving the console maker a 96% stake in the company for over a decade. Monolith Soft's co-founders Hirohide Sugiura, Tetsuya Takahashi, and Yasuyuki Honne held onto the remaining 4% for years, though it seems like they've now given the rest over as well: the Monolith Soft official website now lists Nintendo as its sole shareholder with ownership over 100% of its shares. (Good spot, Automaton.)
Nothing will properly change between the two companies since Monolith Soft has been almost exclusively working on Nintendo projects for more than a decade at this point, but it's an interesting development regardless, especially as major Nintendo buyouts are few and far between.
For now, Monolith Soft is gearing up to break Xenoblade Chronicles X out of its Wii U prison cell next year. The JRPG powerhouse is probably also working on the next Xenoblade game - or maybe even a totally new thing - that we might even see pop up on the incoming Nintendo Switch 2.
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