{"id":48278,"date":"2025-05-23T00:15:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-22T15:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=48278"},"modified":"2025-05-22T18:57:05","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T09:57:05","slug":"monolith-softs-leadership-emphasizes-autonomy-of-its-development-teams-in-bottom-up-management-style-according-to-devs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/monolith-softs-leadership-emphasizes-autonomy-of-its-development-teams-in-bottom-up-management-style-according-to-devs\/","title":{"rendered":"Monolith Soft\u2019s leadership emphasizes autonomy of its development teams in \u201cbottom-up\u201d management style, according to devs\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In a recent interview with CGWorld<\/a>, Monolith Soft\u2019s game developers and R&D engineers talked about efforts the studio is making to adapt to the needs of large-scale game development. The devs also shared some insights into how Monolith Soft\u2019s hierarchy works, with an emphasis on a \u201cbottom-up\u201d form of leadership as opposed to \u201ctop-down\u201d hierarchy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Due to the growing man-hours and resources involved in game development, Monolith Soft is working on introducing new technology \u2013 namely procedural terrain creation and automatic asset placement using Houdini\u2013 to streamline the more menial and time-consuming aspects of development. By doing this, the studio aims to free up time and resources to invest in refining gameplay and more creative aspects of game development. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Xenoblade<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Monolith Soft\u2019s R&D department is fairly new, and not many of its developers are versed in the new technology yet. However, according to Xenoblade Chronicles 3 lead map designer Yoichi Akizuki, implementation of new systems is progressing very smoothly from the R&D side to the development frontline thanks to the company\u2019s culture of borderless communication. \u201cI don\u2019t feel any organizational borders, to the point that I sometimes forget that Hirose (R&D technical artist Mitsuhiro Hirose) isn\u2019t part of the game development side. (laughs) We\u2019re constantly in touch because we\u2019re all working toward the same goal \u2013 making the game better.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After experimenting with different approaches to implementing new technology, Monolith Soft has settled on the system of asking devs on site what they need and then having technical artists from the R&D side figure out how to achieve it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Xenoblade<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Akizuki notes that one of Monolith Soft\u2019s strengths is how “neatly\u201d it works. \u201cWe follow processes, reach an agreement, leave a tangible record, and then move to the next step.” However, this formality doesn\u2019t equal authoritativeness, as programmer Takashi Shibahara explains, \u201cour company is not top-down, but bottom-up. Our leadership leaves things to the frontline and tries to listen to on-site feedback as much as possible. We are now in an era where the quality of a game is directly tied to how much individual ingenuity makes it into the final product. I think Monolith Soft is doing quite well in that regard.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Monolith Soft game developers and R&D engineers talk about the company’s borderless communication culture and bottom-up leadership style.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":48280,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[64,3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-48278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-game-development","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nMonolith Soft\u2019s leadership emphasizes autonomy of its development teams in \u201cbottom-up\u201d management style, according to devs\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Monolith Soft game developers and R&D engineers talk about the company's borderless communication culture and bottom-up leadership style.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/monolith-softs-leadership-emphasizes-autonomy-of-its-development-teams-in-bottom-up-management-style-according-to-devs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Monolith Soft\u2019s leadership emphasizes autonomy of its development teams in \u201cbottom-up\u201d management style, according to devs\u00a0 - 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