Apart from its recent work on the Mythra and Pyra reveal trailer for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate earlier this year, we've not heard much from Xenoblade Chronicles developer Monolith Soft in recent times. We found out it was hiring for the Legend of Zelda series back in 2019 and there's also been mention of a "new game" over the past year, but we still don't really know what it's up to.
Despite this, the Japanese studio has continued to increase its number of employees. In the latest update (via the official company website), it's been revealed its headcount has gone from 261 employees in December last year to 272, as of this month. Nintendo Enthusiast shared a detailed breakdown of the company's expansion:
- (Released Xenoblade Chronicles 2 in December 2017)
- December 2017 – 150 employees
- April 2018 – 163 employees
- August 2018 – 171 employees
- (Released Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna – The Golden Country in September 2018)
- November 2018 – 184 employees
- January 2019 – 193 employees
- April 2019 – 209 employees
- June 2019 – 215 employees
- September 2019 – 224 employees
- December 2019 – 236 employees
- April 2020 – 248 employees
- (Released Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition in May 2020)
- August 2020 – 254 employees
- December 2020 – 261 employees
- April 2021 – 272 employees
Whatever it is Monolith Soft is working on - it's likely to be just as big as its past projects. They might even be assisting with the upcoming sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Within this latest studio update, some additional data was shared - revealing 27.6% of company employees are female, 72.4% are men, while the average age is 36 years old.
What do you think we might see next from Monolith Soft? What would you like to see it work on? Leave your thoughts below.
[source monolithsoft.co.jp, via nintendoenthusiast.com]
Comments 68
And hopefully 100% of them are working on something cool!
Considering Monolith Soft are based in Japan and are a video game company, the male/female split really isn’t as bad as I’d expected.
XCX sequel? I’d prefer that to a Switch port of the first game.
I hope the purpose is for Monolith to work in 2 projects simultaneously and still have people to help with other Nintendo projects like BotW.
Think the odds are very good for a xenoblade 3.
Nintendo should buy the rights to xenogears off square and xenosaga off bamco. A Xenoblade style remake of Xenogears would be just plain nifty.
@Synecdoche That was be amazing
Whats next? Fzero can be next. Give it to Monolith! Give it to anyone really Nintendo! Dammit
They've quickly become one of my favorite developers. As for their next game, I wager it'll be a new IP, but regardless, I look forward to it.
Hopefully enough to afford back pain pills for poor Pyra.
Now with all those employees can they please port XCX to Switch so I can be so happy
Hopefully with that ratio of female employees they'll feel compelled to stop oversexualizing their female characters.
Breath of the Wild 2 of course!
@Deliesh the fanbase is dominated by whiny snowflakes who spent years complaining about how Nintendo of America "censored" the option to dress a thirteen year old girl in a Playboy bunny outfit, so I lack optimism on that point.
Hopefully we get some XC3 news soon.
@Roam85 It wouldn't work. Xenogears is too big to be remade as a modern game. Best we could hope for is a remaster.
@Deliesh Plenty of sexualized blades were designed by women, including Dahlia. Not everyone is a prude.
Maybe they can make more copies of xenoblade 2 so I can buy one
Imagine if Intelligent Systems had that much staff...
Whatever they are working on, I want them to take all the time they need. Xenoblade Chronicles 1 and 2 are my favorite games of all time (in that order). I hope they take their time and deliver another masterpiece.
In the meantime they could drop a port of Xenoblade X on Switch. That would be a good way to earn them some extra cash without being much of a distraction from working on new projects.
I would love Xenoblade chronicles x to be rereleased on switch and at 60fps
They should just continue the story from xbc2. Great game and characters.
@Luigisghost669 seriously! I just want to buy a copy from a store. Unfortunate it had such a limited print.
They give unspecified assistance to BOTW2 and then fire out another Xenoblade
Xenoblade X and Project X Zo- gets dogpiled
@TheJGG they are currently working on a new ip for switch supposely to be based in medieval time.
@Deliesh you dont speak for everyone man on that subject.
@nessisonett,
I guess as long as they are qualified for the job their gender should not come into it, although as you suggest Japan is pretty much male orientated in many ways, of course thigs would have changed over time.
Seems a pretty small studio, staff wise, I would have thought they would have employed more people.
@Slowdive Thanks, I needed to see those beautiful artworks once again!
Maybe they got a lot of "medieval setting" expertise by working on BotW?
We shall see what's next at the E3, for sure! I'm hoping to see that medieval new IP, but I wouldn't be mad if they released a Xeno X2 first, a remaster of the first one, a Baten Kaitos 3 or a remaster of the first 2. I just want more Monolith stuff!
I want another Xenoblade title! 😂
Honestly I'm so happy the studio is doing well! I'm hoping we get to see what they've been up to when E3 comes around. I know it was mentioned that Yasunori Mitsuda and ACE+ were working on a new soundtrack together a few weeks ago. The only time those two have worked together in the past was for the Xenoblade soundtracks (I think) so who knows 👀. Only time will tell though.
It’d be get if Nintendo could get their hands on the other Xeno- games, but obviously assisting with BotW sequel is one thing, hopefully and Xenoblade X port is on the cards and maybe assisting GameFreak with Pokémon Legends and/or future mainline Pokémon games. But bring on the Xeno- and new IPs.
Whatever it is I will welcome it with arms wide open! It is my favourite dev and altough I would love a port o XCX (as I do not own a wii-u) I don't think we will get another xenoblade on switch
@Synecdoche Exactly!
So many people are begging for a port! I really hope we get a sequel instead this time!
Ports are good, but switch already has almost all wii u games!
I know everyone is sick of Wii U ports but I really want XCX on Switch.
I hope they make direct sequel to XB2, best game i ever olayed. even bought switch for it!
I would like to see them helping Game Freak develop a Pokémon game with a better overworld design.
@Ironcore In 60 fps and without censorship!
Tokyo Mirage Sessions sales were very low because of it
Please be Xenoblade 3, please be Xenoblade 3...
After finishing Xenoblade 2 and Torna Country in the last month I have a Xenoblade sized hole in my gaming life.
Something new or something Baten Kaitos, please!
Xenoblade can take a well deserved rest for now - imho.
@Luigisghost669 Yeah it took me ages to hunt down my copy. Got it from CEX in the end for £45. Its expensive for such an old game but worth every penny. I had to own it physically because its so good.
@__jamiie Same i cba to buy a wiiu just to play it
That's just enough to support pyra's IP...
With 273 employees, they are probably working on 2 games not counting BOTW2.
I have it on good authority that at least 0 employees are working on an XCX Switch port
"They might even be assisting with the upcoming sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild."
This isn't a "might" - Monolith Soft is absolutely developing Breath of the Wild 2 alongside Nintendo EPD.
Whatever it is they are working on I will buy it day one.
How many are strictly dedicated to busom physics?
Whatever they put out next, I’ll buy. I hope some staff is working on porting xenoblade x to switch since many people did not have the chance to play the game on wii u and it deserves a second chance. Other than that, I’d be interested in seeing what new ip they could put out or if they are able to revisit xenogears, xenosaga, and baten kaitos since all those series deserve a second chance too.
Wow, they were able to create Xenoblade 2 with only 150 employees, probably not all of which are even developers. That’s impressive, good on them. Even if the series isn’t exactly my cup of tea, it’s still a cool universe and I’m excited to see what comes next.
Baten Kaitos HD collection and 3?
Oh wait this isn’t a magical lamp... just a regular one. Oh ok, um I will wait to see what they announce then.
I bounced off Xenoblade 2 so hard i tried to trade my collectors copy into CEX a month later. They didn't have it on file so kept it. Tried it again and i still haven't got into it. I went back and replayed all of Xenoblade C X.
I wouldn't mind seeing something like Baiten Kaitos or something brand new from Monolith Soft.
Just after XC2 released was there not an interview with the developers to say they had to create much of the game engine with only 3 people because most of their staff had been taken off to finish work on BotW?
@Slowdive this look like a Legend of Zelda game to me, Monolith Soft working on a Legend of Zelda RPG?
where we can expect and hope that medieval looking RPG Monolith Soft is developing since 2017 to release? this year? next year?
Compared to what, GameFreak's 20 employees?
There's no doubt that they are in need of more employees to be able to divide up development better. Here's hoping that the next Xenoblade release, whether it's 3 or a port of X, would actually perform better, hardware-wise.
They are working on the BoTW sequel, I wonder if they are doing the majority of it, of all of it. As far as another Xeno game, or new project, I am sure they are working on something there as well. But, considering Xenoblade 2 was mostly outsourced, I do wonder if they would do the same for the next Xeno game, and make a new IP in house.
These kinds of numbers probably get you a new IP, XB3 (can't wait!) and a remaster of something, possibly more.
Monolith having over 270 employees is good unlike Atari which had like what only 10 employees.
Something many people have wondered about.
@Socar Yeah. Or Retro Studios.
"So what's next?"
BOTW2, the game we know they are all currently working on due to various statements from both Nintendo and Monolith.
Holy crap you like to troll your own site Nintendolife. You even mention it like "maybe they are working on BOTW2, but it could be anything!" when you absolutely know the increased staffing is for that project.
Can't wait for the next game! Hope they'll finally made it with a big team
Xenoblade saved gaming for me. xenoblade x was fantastic too. Currently playing xenoblade 2... underwhelmed. Looks terrible, almost like a wii game. destroys the exploration when it looks so bad. the game has too many cut scenes. xenoblade x blows it out of the water. so far
Nice, they have enough people to work on XC 3 AND 4 simultaneously (I couldn't care less about XCX)
XC1 was a blast back in the day and I gladly anticipate a 3rd entry to this amazing series.
If they decide to port XCX, they'd better also be working on a sequel, that cliffhanger ending was brutal.
@Slowdive This is exactly what I'm waiting patiently for! Xenoblade is a good IP, but I almost always prefer a fantasy setting over sci-fi.
I can't wait to fly dragons across the sky just like piloting mechs in XCX. Notice the red dragon flying overhead in the concept art.
@jcboyer515 That makes a bit more sense, thanks for the info!
If you are looking for a copy of Xenoblade Chronicles 2, go to the crappiest Wal-Mart in your town, they will have a copy. (Noone in crappy neighborhoods wants to play a good JRPG) Or, go to play-asia.com (That's where I picked up my second copy after trading off the first like a dumb@$$)
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