Nintendo appears to have quietly bought the remaining stake in Xenoblade Chronicles developer Monolith Soft, and now completely owns the studio.
As spotted by Automaton, the developer’s company brochure shows Nintendo now owns all 2,400 shares. The console maker first bought an 80 percent stake (or 1,920 shares) in Monolith back in 2007, then increased that stake to 96 percent (2,304 shares) in 2011. Archived web pages (thanks, VGC) show Nintendo owned 2,230 shares as recently as October 1 before buying the remainder.
While Monolith Soft has been making games for Nintendo systems since 2008, it used to be a somewhat multiplatform studio. Its debut game, Xenosaga Episode I, was released on PlayStation 2, and it developed Xenosaga: Pied Piper for mobile phones in 2004. But the majority of its work (and series) is on Nintendo hardware, such as the Gamecube (Baiten Kaitos), 3DS (Project X Zone), and Switch (Xenoblade Chronicles).
It has also been a co-developer on Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, the first two Splatoon games, and several Animal Crossing installments.
Monolith Soft’s next game is a remaster for Xenoblade Chronicles X, which releases in 2025 and brings the full series to the Switch.