History Creator / MonolithSoft

* ''[[Franchise/XenobladeChronicles Xenoblade Chronicles]]'' series

* ''Xenoblade Chronicles'' series

During the 1990s, Takahashi and Sugiura worked at [[Creator/SquareEnix Square Co.]] on various [=RPGs=], most notably ''Franchise/FinalFantasy''. When a proposal for ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' created by Takahashi and his wife Kaori Tanaka (now known under her PenName, Soraya Saga) fell through for being "too dark", they were allowed to develop it into its own original game that became known as ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}''. However, the various issues encountered in the game's development and Square's lack of interest in supporting any new properties resulted in Takahashi and a good chunk of the ''Xenogears'' team, which also included many who worked on ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'', deciding to leave the company to form their own video game studio. [[Creator/BandaiNamcoEntertainment Namco]] would be the ones to fund their new operations, and thus Monolith Soft was born as a subsidiary of Namco in 1999.

Following a change in executives at Namco, Monolith Soft found themselves starting to relive the same creative restrictions its older members faced at Square, which only worsened after the Bandai Namco merger. At the same time, the studio found themselves in a positive relationship with executives over at Creator/{{Nintendo}}, who vocalized support of their innovative ideas whenever the topic arose. As a result, Monolith would seek to become a subsidiary of Nintendo towards the beginning of the [[UsefulNotes/TheSeventhGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames seventh generation]]. Bandai Namco Entertainment would sell 80% of its shares in Monolith to Creator/{{Nintendo}} in 2007, turning Monolith Soft into a first-party developer for the gaming giant, though it would retain a 16% stake in the studio.[[note]]The remaining 4% are split between studio heads Takahashi, Sugiura, and Yasuyuki Honne.[[/note]] Now under Nintendo, they are known for both their ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1'' series and for lending developmental assistance to various other Nintendo franchises such as ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' and ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing''.

Following a change in executives at Namco, Monolith Soft found themselves starting to relive the same creative restrictions its older members faced at Square, which only worsened after the Bandai Namco merger. At the same time, the studio found themselves in a positive relationship with executives over at Creator/{{Nintendo}}, who vocalized support of their innovative ideas whenever the topic arose. As a result, Monolith would seek to become a subsidiary of Nintendo towards the beginning of the [[UsefulNotes/TheSeventhGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames seventh generation]]. Bandai Namco Entertainment would sell 80% of its shares in Monolith to Creator/{{Nintendo}} in 2007, turning Monolith Soft into a first-party developer for the gaming giant, though it would retain a 16% stake in the studio.[[note]]The remaining 4% are split between studio heads Takahashi, Sugiura, and Yasuyuki Honne.[[/note]] Now under Nintendo, they are known for both their ''VideoGame/{{Xenoblade}}'' series (''Xenoblade Chronicles'' [[MarketBasedTitle outside Japan]]) and for lending developmental assistance to various other Nintendo franchises such as ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' and ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing''.

* ''Xenoblade'' series
** ''[[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1 Xenoblade Chronicles]]''
*** ''Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition''

Not to be confused with the Creator/WarnerBrosInteractiveEntertainment subsidiary Creator/MonolithProductions, the makers of the ''VideoGame/FirstEncounterAssaultRecon'' and ''VideoGame/MiddleEarthShadowOfMordor''[=/=]''[[VideoGame/MiddleEarthShadowOfWar Shadow of War]]'' series.

** ''[[VideoGame/{{Xenoblade}} Xenoblade Chronicles]]''

During the 1990s, Takahashi and Sugiura worked at [[Creator/SquareEnix Square Co.]] on various [=RPGs=], most notably ''Franchise/FinalFantasy''. When a proposal for ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' created by Takahashi and his wife Kaori Tanaka (now known under her pen name, Soraya Saga) fell through for being "too dark", they were allowed to develop it into its own original game that became known as ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}''. However, the various issues encountered in the game's development and Square's lack of interest in supporting any new properties resulted in Takahashi and a good chunk of the ''Xenogears'' team, which also included many who worked on ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'', deciding to leave the company to form their own video game studio. [[Creator/BandaiNamcoEntertainment Namco]] would be the ones to fund their new operations, and thus Monolith Soft was born as a subsidiary of Namco in 1999.

Monolith Soft is a Japanese video game studio founded by Tetsuya Takahashi and Hirohide Sugiura, best known for their {{Eastern RPG}}s, particularly the "Xeno" metaseries.

In regards to all their ''Xeno'' projects, they're connected to a larger, overarching narrative that Takahashi refers to as "Perfect Works". ''Xenogears'' and ''Xenosaga'' were intended to be parts of this, but the failure of those productions forced him to scrap the entire idea. The concept was reborn when Creator/SatoruIwata convinced him to attach the "Xeno" moniker to a new project "Monado: Beginning of the World", in honor of his past struggles with seeing those past passion projects to fruition. The success of ''Xenoblade'', plus its smooth production under Nintendo that allowed him to finally implement his vision with barely any concessions, inspired him to revive "Perfect Works" by adding elements from these past franchises into '''Xenoblade'' sequels. Those past attempts also led to a changed writing approach wherein each entry functions as a more self-contained story within a shared universe rather than explicit pieces in a larger narrative, with the new version of the "Perfect Works" plotline now being wildly different from his original script.

Monolith Soft has a very noticeable CreatorThumbprint: AfterTheEnd settings with a long dead, super advanced civilization, heavy Gnostic and Christian references with usually at least one character undergoing a CrisisOfFaith, HumongousMecha, [[KillerRabbit cute mascots that can sometimes be comically powerful]]. Oh, and their most famous habit of [[PersonOfMassDestruction creating super weapons in the form of a young woman]] in either RobotGirl or ArtificialHuman varieties, all wrapped up in a KudzuPlot that doesn't make much sense until the [[TheEndingChangesEverything last 30 minutes of the story]], revealing a JigsawPuzzle where (most of) the pieces fall neatly into place.

During the 1990s, Takahashi and Sugiura worked at [[Creator/SquareEnix Square Co.]] on various [=RPGs=], most notably ''Franchise/FinalFantasy''. When a proposal for ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' created by Takahashi and his wife Kaori Tanaka fell through for being "too dark", they were allowed to develop it into its own original game that became known as ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}''. However, the various issues encountered in the game's development and Square's lack of interest in supporting any new properties resulted in Takahashi and a good chunk of the ''Xenogears'' team, which also included many who worked on ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'', deciding to leave the company to form their own video game studio. [[Creator/BandaiNamcoEntertainment Namco]] would be the ones to fund their new operations, and thus Monolith Soft was born as a subsidiary of Namco in 1999.

Due to his departure from Square, Takahashi could not acquire the rights to ''Xenogears'', which he had planned to build into a large series. Undaunted, he decided to create a SpiritualSuccessor in ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}'', a planned hexalogy. ''Xenosaga'' would see more success than its predecessor, but ultimately fall prey to its own production issues -- as well as [[AcclaimedFlop incredibly poor sales following the first entry]] -- and be cancelled after ''Episode 3''. The ''Xenosaga'' series wouldn't be Monolith Soft's only project during this time period, however, as they also ended up producing the CultClassic UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube [=RPG=] ''VideoGame/BatenKaitos'' and its prequel.

Monolith Soft has a very noticeable CreatorThumbprint: AfterTheEnd settings with a long dead, super advanced civilization, heavy Gnostic and Christian references with usually at least one character undergoing a CrisisOfFaith, HumongousMecha, [[KillerRabbit cute mascots that can sometimes be comically powerful]]. Oh, and their most famous habit of [[PersonOfMassDestruction creating super weapons in the form of a young woman]] in either RobotGirl or ArtificialHuman varieties, all wrapped up in a KudzuPlot that doesn't make much sense until the [[TheEndingChangesEverything last 30 minutes of the story]].

Due to his departure from Square, Takahashi could not acquire the rights to ''Xenogears'', which he had planned to build into a large series. Undaunted, he decided to create a SpiritualSuccessor in ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}'', a planned hexalogy. ''Xenosaga'' would see more success than its predecessor, but ultimately fall prey to its own production issues and be cancelled after ''Episode 3''. The ''Xenosaga'' series wouldn't be Monolith Soft's only project during this time period, however, as they also ended up producing the CultClassic UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube [=RPG=] ''VideoGame/BatenKaitos'' and its prequel.

** ''Endless Frontier Exceed: Super Robot Taisen OG Saga''(published by Bandai Namco; co-developed with Creator/{{Banpresto}})

* ''[[VideoGame/DirgeOfCerberus Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII]]''[[note]]Support studio for Creator/SquareEnix[[/note]]

* ''VideoGame/DragonBallZAttackOfTheSaiyans''[[labelnote:*]]published by Bandai Namco[[/labelnote]]
* ''VideoGame/EndlessFrontier: Super Robot Taisen OG Saga''[[labelnote:*]]published by Bandai Namco; co-developed with Creator/{{Banpresto}}[[/labelnote]]
** ''Endless Frontier Exceed: Super Robot Taisen OG Saga''[[labelnote:*]]published by Bandai Namco; co-developed with Creator/{{Banpresto}}[[/labelnote]]
* ''VideoGame/ProjectXZone''[[labelnote:*]]published by Bandai Namco; co-developed with Creator/{{Banpresto}}[[/labelnote]]
** ''Project X Zone 2''[[labelnote:*]]published by Bandai Namco[[/labelnote]]

** ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles''

[[folder:As a subsidiary of Namco/Bandai Namco (1999-2007)]]

During the 1990s, Takahashi and Sugiura worked at [[Creator/SquareEnix Square Co.]] on various [=RPGs=], most notably ''Franchise/FinalFantasy''. When a proposal for ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' created by Takahashi and his fell through for being "too dark", they were allowed to develop it into its own original game that became known as ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}''. However, the various issues encountered in the game's development and Square's lack of interest in supporting any new properties resulted in Takahashi and a good chunk of the ''Xenogears'' team, which also included many who worked on ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'', deciding to leave the company to form their own video game studio. [[Creator/BandaiNamcoEntertainment Namco]] would be the ones to fund their operations, and thus Monolith Soft was born as a subsidiary of Namco in 1999.

Due to his departure from Square, Takahashi could not acquire the rights to ''Xenogears''. Undaunted, he decided to create SpiritualSuccessor in ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}'', a planned hexalogy. ''Xenosaga'' would see more success than its predecessor, but ultimately fall prey to its own production issues and be cancelled after ''Episode 3''. The ''Xenosaga'' series wouldn't be Monolith Soft's only project during this time period, however, as they also ended up producing the CultClassic UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube [=RPG=] ''VideoGame/BatenKaitos'' and its prequel.

Following a change in executives at Namco, Monolith Soft found themselves starting to relive the same creative restrictions its older members faced at Square, which only worsened after the Bandai Namco merger. At the same time, the studio found themselves in a positive relationship with executives over at Creator/{{Nintendo}}, who vocalized support of their innovative ideas whenever the topic arose. As a result, Monolith would seek to become a subsidiary of Nintendo towards the beginning of the [[UsefulNotes/TheSeventhGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames seventh generation]]. Bandai Namco Entertainment would sell 80% of its shares in Monolith to Creator/{{Nintendo}} in 2007, turning Monolith Soft into a first-party developer for the gaming giant, though it would retain a 16% stake in the studio.[[note]]The remaining 4% are split between studio heads Takahashi, Sugiura, and Yasuyuki Honne.[[/note]] Under Nintendo, they'd become known for both their ''VideoGame/{{Xenoblade}}'' series (''Xenoblade Chronicles'' [[MarketBasedTitle outside Japan]]) series and for lending development assistance to various games in other Nintendo franchises such as ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' and ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing''.

In regards to all their ''Xeno'' projects, they're connected to a larger, overarching narrative that Takahashi refers to as "Perfect Works". ''Xenogears'' and ''Xenosaga'' were intended to be parts of this, but the failure of those productions forced him to scrap the entire idea. The concept was reborn when Creator/SatoruIwata convinced him to attach the "Xeno" moniker to a new project "Monado: Beginning of the World", in honor of his past struggles with seeing those past passion projects to fruition. The success of ''Xenoblade'', plus its smooth production under Nintendo that allowed him to finally implement his vision with barely any concessions, inspired him to revive "Perfect Works" by adding elements from these past franchises into future '''Xenoblade'' sequels. Those past attempts also led to a few writing approach wherein each entry are more self-contained stories within a shared universe rather than explicit pieces in a larger narrative, with the new version of the "Perfect Works" plotline now being wildly different from his original script.

* ''VideoGame/ProjectXZone'' (2012)[[labelnote:*]]published by Bandai Namco; co-developed with Creator/{{Banpresto}}[[/labelnote]]

Due to his departure from Square, Takahashi could not acquire the rights to ''Xenogears''. Undaunted, he decided to create SpiritualSuccessor in ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}'', a planned hexalogy. ''Xenosaga'' would see more success than its predecessor, but ultimately fall prey to its own production issues and be cancelled after ''Episode 3''. The ''Xenosaga'' series wouldn't be Monolith Soft's only project during this time period, however, as they also ended up producing the CultClassic UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube [=RPG=] ''VideoGame/BatenKaitos''.

!!Games developed/co-developed by Monolith Soft

* ''VideoGame/DragonBallZAttackOfTheSaiyans''

* ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}''

* ''VideoGame/EndlessFrontier: Super Robot Taisen OG Saga''[[note]]co-developed with Creator/{{Banpresto}}[[/note]]
** ''Endless Frontier Exceed: Super Robot Taisen OG Saga''
* ''VideoGame/ProjectXZone''[[note]]co-developed with Creator/{{Banpresto}}[[/note]]
** ''Project X Zone 2''

** ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossingNewLeaf''

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword''

Following a change in executives at Namco, Monolith Soft found themselves starting to relive the same creative restrictions its older members faced at Square, which only worsened after the Bandai Namco merger. At the same time, the studio found themselves in a positive relationship with executives over at Creator/{{Nintendo}}, who vocalized support of their innovative ideas whenever the topic arose. As a result, Monolith would seek to become a subsidiary of Nintendo towards the beginning of the [[UsefulNotes/TheSeventhGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames seventh generation]]. Bandai Namco Entertainment would sell 80% of its shares in Monolith to Creator/{{Nintendo}} in 2007, turning Monolith Soft into a first-party developer for the gaming giant, though it would retain a 16% stake in the studio.[[note]]The remaining 4% are split between studio heads Takahashi, Sugiura, and Yasuyuki Honne[[/note]] Under Nintendo, they'd become known for both their ''VideoGame/{{Xenoblade}}'' series (''Xenoblade Chronicles'' [[MarketBasedTitle outside Japan]]) series and for lending development assistance various games in other Nintendo franchises such as ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' and ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing''.

!!!Lead Developer

* ''VideoGame/EndlessFrontier: Super Robot Taisen OG Saga''[[superscript:co-developed with Creator/{{Banpresto}}]]

* ''VideoGame/ProjectXZone''[[superscript:co-developed with Banpresto]]

!!!Support Studio

* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles''

* ''Xenoblade'' series
** ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles''

Following a change in executives at Namco, Monolith Soft found themselves starting to relive the same creative restrictions its older members faced at Square, which only worsened after the Bandai Namco merger. At the same time, the studio found themselves in a positive relationship with executives over at Creator/{{Nintendo}}, who vocalized support of their innovative ideas whenever the topic arose. As a result, Monolith would seek to become a subsidiary of Nintendo towards the beginning of the [[UsefulNotes/TheSeventhGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames seventh generation]]. Bandai Namco Entertainment would sell 80% of its shares in Monolith to Creator/{{Nintendo}} in 2007, turning Monolith Soft into a first-party developer for the gaming giant. Under Nintendo, they'd become known for both their ''VideoGame/{{Xenoblade}}'' series (''Xenoblade Chronicles'' [[MarketBasedTitle outside Japan]]) series and for lending development assistance various games in other Nintendo franchises such as ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' and ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing''.

!Games by future employees under Square
* ''VideoGame/ChronoCross''
* ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}''
----

!Games under Namco/Bandai Namco

----

!Games under Nintendo

* ''VideoGame/EndlessFrontier: Super Robot Taisen OG Saga'' (co-developed with Namco Bandai subsidiary Creator/{{Banpresto}})

* ''VideoGame/ProjectXZone'' (co-developed with Bandai Namco subsidiary Banpresto)

* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles''

During the 1990s, Takahashi and Sugiura worked at [[Creator/SquareEnix Square Co.]] on various [=RPGs=], most notably ''Franchise/FinalFantasy''. When a proposal for ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' created by Takahashi and his fell through for being "too dark", they were allowed to develop it into its own original game that became known as ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}''; however, the various issues encountered in the game's development and Square's lack of interest in supporting any new properties resulted in Takahashi and a good chunk of the ''Xenogears'' team deciding to leave the company to form their own video game studio. [[Creator/BandaiNamcoEntertainment Namco]] would be the ones to fund their operations, and thus Monolith Soft was born as a subsidiary of Namco in 1999.

Most of the people who would eventually form the company were just a nameless studio under [[Creator/SquareEnix Square Co.]], producing two well-received [=RPGs=] for the [[UsefulNotes/{{PlayStation}} Sony PlayStation]]: ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'' and ''VideoGame/ChronoCross''. Takahashi and his team wished to make ''Xenogears'' a full fledged series, but they were unable to as Square's [[ExecutiveMeddling higher-ups wanted to focus their resources]] on their [[RunningGag Earth-shatteringly]] [[CashCowFranchise popular]] ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' franchise, which lead to ''Xenogears'' ultimately falling short of what Takahashi envisioned even with its single game.

Shortly after the creation of ''Chrono Cross'', Takahashi and many of his team members left Square and went to [[Creator/BandaiNamcoEntertainment Namco]], the company who would provide them the start-up capital needed to form their own company. Thus, Monolith Soft was born. For the entirety of UsefulNotes/TheSixthGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames, Monolith Soft was a subsidiary of Namco. Due to his departure from Square, Takahashi could not acquire the rights to ''Xenogears''. Instead, he decided to create SpiritualSuccessor ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}'', which he was able to develop into a proper series, but he likewise failed to realize his complete vision before it suffered enormous amounts of problems in production and was canceled after Episode 3. Monolith Soft was also able to produce the CultClassic UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube [=RPG=] ''VideoGame/BatenKaitos''.

Towards the beginning of UsefulNotes/{{The Seventh Generation|OfConsoleVideoGames}}, the newly-merged Bandai Namco Entertainment sold 80% of its share of Monolith to Creator/{{Nintendo}}, making the company its subsidiary; they would later sell the rest, making Monolith Soft a first-party developer for the gaming giant. Their most noted projects under Nintendo are the ''Xenoblade'' (or ''Xenoblade Chronicles'' outside Japan) games: {{Spiritual Successor}}s to ''Xenogears'' and ''Xenosaga'' which have arguably become the most popular and successful of the ''Xeno'' series. They have also lent developmental assistance to some of Nintendo's other first-party games such as ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl'', ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossingNewLeaf'', ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'', ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' and ''VideoGame/Splatoon2'', particularly its ''Octo Expansion''.

They're well known for a story Takahashi refers to as something called "Perfect Works" that never was able to be told the way Takahashi wanted it to be. ''Xenogears'' and ''Xenosaga'' were intended to be parts of it, but the games being canceled and suffering such massive production issues forced him to start over and reboot the whole thing. The most insane part of this is that when Takahashi had seemingly gave up on it and went on to other things,
Creator/SatoruIwata convinced him to attach the "Xeno" title to a game he was working on completely unrelated to Perfect Works to honor his past struggles. This game called "Monado: Beginning of the World", became ''Xenoblade''. This, combined with Nintendo contributing with a minor miracle of their own by delaying ''Xenoblade'' to let Takahashi see it through to the end, allowed him to release the game mostly as he intended. Being an absolute success, Takahashi was allowed to make sequels that retroactively added ''Gears'' and ''Saga'' elements thus ''Xenoblade'' managed to revive the Perfect Works story line completely by accident. Experience and and failures influenced Takahashi's approach to game design, where he now designs his stories around game mechanics and expands from there. This time he's claimed to be taking a WritingByTheSeatOfYourPants approach to Perfect Works that involves using more focused and self-contained stories than his failed attempts that are mostly unrelated to each other to create pieces of the new version of the Perfect Works plotline, which so far has had much more commercial success and created something wildly different from his original script.

They have a very noticeable CreatorThumbprint that shows up in nearly every game, large parts of which even show up in games they're only helping with like the ''Zelda'' series or even ''Splatoon''. AfterTheEnd settings with a long dead super advanced civilization, heavy Gnostic and Christian references with usually at least one character undergoing a CrisisOfFaith, HumongousMecha, [[KillerRabbit cute mascots that can sometimes be comically powerful]], and their most famous habit of [[PersonOfMassDestruction creating super weapons in the form of a young woman]] in either RobotGirl or ArtificialHuman varieties all wrapped up in a KudzuPlot that doesn't make much sense until the [[TheEndingChangesEverything last 30 minutes of the story]] are all Tropes associated heavily with Monolith Soft.