One of the beautiful things about media is that when you find a franchise or series that you really like, you tend to be there for every big release and want nothing more than for it to continue on or “come back” in a meaningful way. In the gaming space, we see this all the time, but it’s always great when a franchise goes from being a bit “niche” to begin with to being a hit. Xenoblade Chronicles by Monolith Soft is one such franchise. It started out as a game that almost wasn’t brought to the West, but over time, it became a cornerstone of the Nintendo Switch era.
Today (in Japan) marks the 15th anniversary of when the game first released on the Nintendo Wii, and what a journey the saga has had since then. It had a “spinoff” of the Wii U that JUST got brought over to the Switch earlier this year, the first game got ported to the 3DS and then the Switch, and then the second title elevated the franchise to new heights, while the third game got a Game of the Year nomination! Oh, and it’s my personal favorite video game story ever. Just saying.
Happy 15th Anniversary to the Xenoblade Chronicles series!On June 10th, 2015 Xenoblade Chronicles launches on Wii. 15 years later, not only does Monolith Soft make their own large scale JRPGs they also assist Nintendo on other big 1st Party games.
— Stealth40k (@stealth40k.bsky.social) 2025-06-09T17:11:15.655Z
So, yeah, quite a journey, and that doesn’t even talk about all the games that Monolith Soft has helped Nintendo with over the last fifteen years, including helping Mario Kart World launch on the Switch 2!
The big question, of course, is what will be the first thing that Monolith Soft releases on their own for the Nintendo Switch 2. Hopefully, we won’t have to wait long for an announcement.
