Monolith Soft
 | |
| Subsidiary of Nintendo | |
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | October 1, 1999 |
| Headquarters | Tokyo, Japan |
Key people |
Hirohide Sugiura Tetsuya Takahashi Yasuyuki Honne Koh Kojima |
| Products |
Xeno series Baten Kaitos series Disaster: Day of Crisis Soma Bringer |
Number of employees | 123 (as of May 2014)[1] |
| Parent | Nintendo |
| Website |
www |
Monolith Soft, Inc. (株式会社モノリスソフト Kabushiki-Gaisha Monorisu Sofuto) is a Japanese video game development studio. The company was formed in 1999 by Tetsuya Takahashi shortly after the completion of the first game he was in charge of at Squaresoft - Xenogears. When Squaresoft did not move forward with a Xenogears sequel, Takahashi broke away from the company and formed his own, in order to further focus on more titles in the Xeno series. From 2000 to 2006, the development team worked as a subsidiary of Namco to produce three more titles in the Xeno series, Xenosaga Episode 1, Episode II, and Episode III, along with a variety of other titles, most notably Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean and Baten Kaitos Origins.
In 2007, Nintendo bought all shares from Namco, making the company a subsidiary of Nintendo. In addition to assisting Nintendo on various projects, they continued the Xeno series with Xenoblade Chronicles and Xenoblade Chronicles X on Nintendo platforms. They're also responsible for the tactical RPG series Project X Zone.
History
The company was founded on October 1, 1999 by producer Hirohide Sugiura and director Tetsuya Takahashi after they left Square and accepted an investment from Namco.[2] As of May 6, 2007, Nintendo owned controlling interest in the company after Bandai Namco Holdings sold 80% of its 96% stake in Monolith Soft to Nintendo. This went into effect May 1, 2007.[3] Later Namco sold the remaining 16%, making Monolith Soft a first-party developer for Nintendo.
The company announced on July 8, 2011 that they were opening up an additional studio in Kyoto, Japan, which had around 30 employees by July 2013.[4] They are currently co-developing games for both the Wii U[5] and the Nintendo 3DS.[6]
On October 16, 2015, Monolith Soft posted "urgent" mass recruitment job openings for both the Kyoto and Tokyo offices, particularly for 3D designers.[7][8] In an interview with series director Takahashi, he said he would like to return to a more story-driven JRPG game like Xenoblade Chronicles after the more game-play focused Xenoblade Chronicles X. He would also like to continue the Xenoblade series by using a variety of settings rather than using the fantasy and science fiction settings from each game respectively.[9]
List of games developed
Tokyo Software Development Studio
Kyoto Software Development Studio
| Title | Publisher | Platform | Release | Additional details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Animal Crossing: New Leaf | Nintendo | Nintendo 3DS | 2012 | Development co-operation for Nintendo EAD Group No. 2 |
| Pikmin 3[12] | Nintendo | Wii U | 2013 | Development co-operation for Nintendo EAD Group No. 4 |
| The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds[13] | Nintendo | Nintendo 3DS | 2013 | Development co-operation for Nintendo EAD Group No. 3 |
| Splatoon | Nintendo | Wii U | 2015 | Development co-operation for Nintendo EAD Group No. 2 |
| Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer | Nintendo | Nintendo 3DS | 2015 | Development co-operation for Nintendo EAD Group No. 2 |
References
- ↑ "会社情報 | 株式会社モノリスソフト". Monolith Soft (in Japanese). Monolith Soft. Retrieved 7 June 2014.
- ↑ Cubed³ staff (2006-08-03). "Monolith Soft on Nintendo Wii Support, Baten Kaitos II & More". Retrieved 2007-02-11.
- ↑ IGNWii (2007-04-27). "Nintendo Acquires Xenosaga Developer". Retrieved 2007-04-27.
- ↑ "Monolith Soft Kyoto Studio – work details, Animal Crossing: New Leaf involvement". Go Nintendo. July 3, 2013. Retrieved April 13, 2015.
- ↑ North, Dale (September 13, 2012). "Xenoblade devs Monolith Soft are developing a Wii U game". Destructoid. Retrieved April 13, 2015.
- ↑ Goergen, Andy (February 23, 2012). "Monolith Soft Recruiting For 3DS Development". Nintendo World Report. Retrieved April 13, 2015.
- ↑ http://www.monolithsoft.co.jp/recruit/jobs.html
- ↑ http://www.siliconera.com/2015/10/16/xenoblade-developer-posts-for-urgent-and-mass-openings/
- ↑ http://www.gamereactor.eu/articles/368023/Tetsuya+Takahashi+Talks+Xenoblade+Chronicles+X/
- ↑ . Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII (PlayStation 2) Credits.
- ↑ 大乱闘スマッシュブラザーズX まとめwiki – スタッフ・声優
- ↑ Nintendo-Online.de
- ↑ Nintendo-Online.de
External links
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