Nintendo buys remaining four percent of Monolith Soft, as a little treat

Nintendo has purchased the remaining shares of Monolith Soft, according to a report by Automaton. Up until recently, Monolith’s founders have held onto a four percent stake in the company, likely for symbolic reasons, but those days are done. Nintendo now owns the whole dang thing.

Monolith is primarily known for the Xenoblade Chronicles franchise, but recent years have seen the developer assist with big-time Nintendo IPs. It has provided support on games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Additionally, the company helped out on recent Splatoon and Animal Crossing entries.

Monolith Soft was originally founded in 1999 by Hirohide Sugiura, Tetsuya Takahashi and Yasuyuki Honne, along with a hefty investment from Bandai Namco. The company created the Xenosaga series, a spiritual successor to Square’s Xenogears that co-founder Takahashi originally wrote and directed.

Monolith made a trio of Xenosaga games before Nintendo swooped in and bought 80 percent of company shares from Bandai Namco in 2007. Nintendo increased its stake to 96 percent in 2011 and now, well, it’s got the full hundo.

We don’t exactly know when this final transaction took place. Monolith’s company brochure for 2024 still showed the founders owning four percent. This held as far as October 1, but changed by November 21, as spotted by VGC. We are also in the dark as to what Monolith has been working on, aside from helping Nintendo on key franchises, but Xenoblade Chronicles 3 sure was good. 

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