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

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.

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.

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!