Xenoblade dev Monolith Soft says it will never be satisfied with the status quo, wants to aim for higher quality

You could make the case that Monolith Soft is one of Nintendo’s most important studios at the moment. Aside from developing different entries in the acclaimed Xenoblade Chronicles series, the company has worked directly on high-profile first-party games. Monolith Soft has contributed to Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, all of the Splatoon games, and more.

Yet despite its incredible track record, Monolith Soft strives for more. Hirohide Sugiura, the company’s co-founder and representative director, has mentioned that the company will never be satisfied with the status quo and will always aim for higher quality.

As part of Monolith Soft’s 2025 company brochure, Sugiura was asked about goals and dreams for the future. Below is what he shared in response, as translated by Nintendo Everything:

“Compared to when the company was established in 1999, the number of staff has greatly increased, there are three development centers, and we have worked on many large titles. However, I don’t think things like success or accomplishments are satisfactory enough. As long as Monolith Soft continues to exist, we will never be satisfied with the status quo, and would want to aim for a higher quality.”

Monolith Soft just released its latest game this week, Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition, which is an updated version of the Wii U RPG for Nintendo Switch. An interesting bit of news emerged this week that the game has a hidden mode getting it to run at 60 frames per second, which you can read about here.

Translation provided by Philip Proctor, SatsumaFS, and Simon Griffin on behalf of Nintendo Everything.