VERACITY IN GAMING

Nintendo now owns 100% of Monolith Soft

Amber V
2024-12-11 17:24
News

1 min

According to Monolith Soft’s official homepage, the Xenoblade series developer is now wholly owned by Nintendo.

*On image: Shares – 2,400, Shareholders – Nintendo Co., Ltd. (100%)*

Monolith Soft was originally created by founders Hirohide Sugiura, Tetsuya Takahashi and Yasuyuki Honne with investment from Namco (now Bandai Namco) to work on Xenosaga, a Namco-owned spiritual successor to Square’s Xenogears. In 2007, Nintendo bought out 80% of Monolith Soft’s shares from Namco, and then went on to further increase its stake to 96% in 2011.

Up until recently, Monolith Soft’s founders have maintained a symbolic 4% stake in the company, but it seems Nintendo has acquired the remaining shares. We don’t know when exactly this happened, but Sugiura, Takahashi and Honne still owned 4% percent of Monolith Soft at least until March this year, when their company brochure for 2024 (relevant excerpt below) was published.

*On image: Shares – 2,400, Shareholders – Nintendo (2,320), Hirohide Sugiura (30), Tetsuya Takahashi (30), Yasuyuki Honne (20)*

Amber V

Novice Editor-in-Chief since October 2023.

She grew up playing Duke Nukem and Wolfenstein with her dad, and is now enamored with obscure Japanese video games and internet culture. Currently devoted to growing Automaton West to the size of its Japanese sister-site, while making sure to keep news concise and developer stories deep and stimulating.

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