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Monolith won't be the studio porting 'Xenoblade Chronicles X' to Nintendo Switch

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xenoblade chronicles x nintendo switch not ported monolith soft
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Xenoblade Chronicles and Xenoblade Chronicles X are hands down two of the best role-playing games available on the Nintendo Wii, the Wii U, and the New 3DS. The former game appeared on the original Wii in 2010 and was later ported to Nintendo’s updated handheld last year, taking advantage of device’s 3D technology and the new C-Stick. The sequel hit the Wii U console last year as well, and now there is talk that this “X” installment will be ported to Nintendo’s upcoming Switch console, but it reportedly won’t be done by Nintendo subsidiary Monolith Soft.

Both Xenoblade Chronicles and Xenoblade Chronicles X were originally developed by Monolith Soft. However, the party responsible for cramming the first game into the New 3DS portable console as Xenoblade Chronicles 3D was Monster Games, a studio that handles many porting tasks for Nintendo. Thus, due to its experience with the first Xenoblade port, Monster Games could very well be handling the Nintendo Switch port as well, and maybe even a New 3DS version too.

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With Xenoblade Chronicles 3D, Monster Games was challenged to cram a huge console-sized world into a handheld while maintaining a fluid framerate and seamless transitions between environments. To accomplish this feat, the studio created a whole new graphics engine, rebuilt every environment, and optimized those environments for the New 3DS hardware. Needless to say, Monster Games has some experience with the Xenoblade Chronicles series.

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Monster Games was called in because Monolith Soft was already working on Xenoblade Chronicles X. Now Monolith Soft has moved on to work on an entirely new Nintendo Switch game slated to hit the console in 2018. Thus, a currently unnamed third-party developer was called in to bring Xenoblade Chronicles X to the Switch hybrid console during its first year on the market.

In addition to the Xenoblade Chronicles X news, sources claim that Nintendo is shooting for June 16, 2017 as the release date for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild on the Nintendo Switch console in the United Kingdom, and June 23, 2017 for the Wii U version in the United Kingdom as well. Meanwhile, in North America, GameStop’s latest earnings report revealed that the game will arrive in the first quarter of 2017, indicating that Breath of the Wild is on track to be a Nintendo Switch launch title here in the States.

The upcoming Nintendo Switch console is expected to land on retail shelves on March 17, 2017 with a possible price tag of $250. The “Day One” titles are expected to be Just Dance 2017, Skyrim Special Edition, a port of Splatoon, Mario Rabbids RPG, and a 3D Mario platformer. Xenoblade Chronicles X, Mario Maker, Mario Kart 8, Breath of the Wild, Super Smash Bros., and Guardians of the Galaxy are expected to arrive in the first six months.

And that’s just the first-party goodies!

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Kevin Parrish
Kevin Parrish
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Kevin started taking PCs apart in the 90s when Quake was on the way and his PC lacked the required components. Since then…
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Considering the rest of the Xenoblade Chronicles series is on Nintendo Switch, it's very surprising that Xenoblade Chronicles X has not made the jump over yet. This RPG stands as the black sheep of the series, with a more gritty style and tone, mech suits, and a plot about humans who crash land on an alien planet after escaping Earth, which might be why it didn't come over before the trilogy was completed. Xenoblade Chronicles X is a great game in its own right, though, and also makes ample use of the Wii U GamePad for its detailed map and menus. As such, it's a worthwhile Wii U pickup for those who like to play games uniquely tailored to the system and enjoy seeing what the oddball entries in game franchises have to offer. 
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Don’t expect Zelda’s $70 price to become the new Switch standard, says Nintendo
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The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom will be Nintendo's first Switch game to be priced at $70. News that Tears of the Kingdom, a sequel to one of the bestselling and most critically acclaimed titles on the system, will have an increased price compared to its predecessor came as a surprise over three-and-a-half years after its announcement. It also raised questions about what the future of pricing for Nintendo games will be, especially as Sony, Microsoft, and third-party publishers all upped the cost of their new games in recent years. 
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"No," the spokesperson said when Digital Trends asked if this is a new standard. "We determine the suggested retail price for any Nintendo product on a case-by-case basis." 
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To get more insight into the price shift, I spoke to Omdia Principal Analyst George Jijiashvili, who explains what has caused the price of games to go up in recent years and how Tears of the Kingdom demonstrates that Nintendo will "remain flexible about first-party title pricing." Ultimately, Nintendo fans are finally starting to feel the impact of inflation that's been sweeping across the game industry, even if it's only "on a case-by-case basis" for now.
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It makes basic financial sense for Nintendo to ask for a little bit more for a game it knows will be one of the biggest releases of 2023. But what factors in the game industry and world's economy at large caused Nintendo to make this decision? 
Priced Out
For more than a decade, people got comfortable with AAA video games being priced at $60. Of course, there were occasional exceptions to this rule, but it was seen as an industry standard until the dawn of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. Publisher 2K was one of the first to announce a price increase, and companies like EA, Sony, and Microsoft have all followed suit. Jijiashvili chalks this up to inflation-related pressure on game publishers.
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