Monolith Soft

Not to be confused with Monolith Productions, an American video game studio.

Monolith Soft, Inc.

Type	Subsidiary of Nintendo
Industry	Interactive media, Video game
Founded	October 1, 1999
Headquarters	Tokyo, Japan
Key people	Hirohide Sugiura, Tetsuya Takahashi, Yasuyuki Honne, Koh Kojima
Products	Xenosaga, Xenoblade Chronicles, Soma Bringer, Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean, Baten Kaitos Origins, Disaster: Day of Crisis
Employees	92 (as of March 2012)
Website	Official website

Monolith Soft, Incorporated (株式会社モノリスソフト, Kabushiki-Gaisha Monorisu Sofuto) is a Japanese video game development company that has created video games for the PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, Wii, Nintendo DS, and cell phones. The company was founded on October 1, 1999 by producer Hirohide Sugiura and director Tetsuya Takahashi after they left Square Co. and accepted an investment from Namco. As of May 6, 2007, Nintendo owned controlling interest in the company after Namco Bandai sold 80% of its 96% stake in Monolith Soft to Nintendo. This went into effect May 1, 2007. 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. They are currently developing games for both the Wii U and the Nintendo 3DS.

Monolith Soft is usually associated with Baten Kaitos, a series of role-playing video games on the Nintendo GameCube, and the Xeno series, including Xenoblade Chronicles, a critically acclaimed role-playing video game for the Wii, and the Xenosaga series, a series of role-playing video games on PlayStation 2. A majority of Monolith Soft's staff are former employees of Square Co., who transferred to the new company shortly after the creation of Chrono Cross. They were previously involved with the creation of Xenogears, from which the Xenosaga series is derived.

Games published by Namco Bandai

PlayStation 2

• Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht (2002)
• Xenosaga: Episode I: Reloaded (2003)
• Xenosaga Freaks (2004)
• Xenosaga Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Böse (2004)
• Namco × Capcom (2005)
• Xenosaga Episode III: Also sprach Zarathustra (2006)

Nintendo GameCube

• Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean (2003, co-developed by tri-Crescendo)

Nintendo DS

• Xenosaga I & II (2006, co-developed by Tom Create)
• Super Robot Taisen OG Saga: Endless Frontier (2008)
• Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans (2009)
• Super Robot Taisen OG Saga: Endless Frontier EXCEED (2010)

Nintendo 3DS

• Project X Zone (2012)

Games published by Nintendo

Nintendo GameCube

• Baten Kaitos Origins (2006, co-developed by tri-Crescendo)

Nintendo DS

• Soma Bringer (2008)

Wii

• Disaster: Day of Crisis (2008)
• Xenoblade Chronicles (2010)

Nintendo 3DS

• Untitled project (TBA)

Wii U

• X (TBA)

Additional contractual work

• Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII (background graphics third-party contractor) (2006, PlayStation 2)
• Super Smash Bros. Brawl (development co-operation) (2008, Wii)
• The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (development co-operation) (2011, Wii)
• Animal Crossing: New Leaf (development co-operation) (2012, Nintendo 3DS)

External links

• Official website