MonolithSoft‘s story is one fascinating case, it all started with a young couple, a talented team and a clear vision, telling original, never seen before stories with great gameplay.
While the quality of their games is not to be questioned, stating that they’ve always been commercial successes would be exaggerating a bit.
Fortunately, ever since the studio got purchased by the big N themselves, Tetsuya Takahashi and the team are finally meeting the success they’ve rightfully deserved with the Xenoblade series.
Here’s a quick look at their past fiscal years, including 2019 :
• March 2019: 274m yen (251m USD)
• March 2018: 138m yen (126m USD)
• March 2017: 346m yen (318m USD)
• March 2016: 274m yen (251m USD)
• March 2015: 101m yen (92m USD)
As we can see, MonolithSoft made double the profit compared to last year despite not having released a game since Xenoblade 2 (and it’s standalone expansion Torna: The Golden Country), not to forget that they also opened a studio in Osaki, Japan earlier this year and one lidabashi, Tokyo, last year. So that raises the question, why is that ?
Where does the profit randomly come from, all of a sudden?
Did Xenoblade 2 suddenly attract a wave of newcomers nearly two years after it’s release?
Well perhaps but there are other very plausible possibilities:
It could simply be the cut of the continued Breath of the Wild sales (MonolithSoft helped immensely Nintendo with development) or…it could be the budget given for their brand new game. Remember, MonolithSoft has been seen urgently recruiting staff for an upcoming RPG. Unless Breath Of The Wild 2 has switched direction to become a full-blown JRPG, this can only mean one thing, development for Xenoblade Chronicles 3 / XCX-2 (or a new IP) has started and with MonolithSoft now being bigger and healthier than ever, it seems like this mystery game is shaping up to be one you don’t want to miss if you have enjoyed their previous works. One thing’s for sure, the horizon is looking bright.