Over the last 15 years, Xenoblade Chronicles has grown into a pretty big franchise for Nintendo. The series had very humble beginnings, and it isn’t as big a draw as Mario or Zelda, but it has been gradually growing into a significant RPG franchise exclusive to Nintendo platforms. Developer Monolith Soft has also become an integral studio for Switch and Switch 2, as the company has lended support on a number of major games. It’s unclear what the developer has been working on lately outside of that support role, but we may have gotten a big hint about what the future holds.
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In a post on X/Twitter, Xenoblade composer Manami Kiyota recently shared that she is working on a new project. As noted by users on the Xenoblade subreddit, Kiyota doesn’t have a lot of credits outside of the series. She has worked on other games, including the Pokemon spin-off PokePark Wii: Pikachu’s Adventure. However, she’s predominantly focused on Xenoblade, and has been with the series since 2010. That could suggest that a new game is currently in the works.
The future of Xenoblade Chronicles has been a major question over the last few years. We know that Monolith Soft was hiring for some kind of new RPG last year, leading to questions about whether it will actually be a fourth game in the series, or something else entirely. If it is the latter, it’s possible Kiyota could still be involved with it, given her history with Monolith Soft. There’s simply no way of knowing for sure, but Kiyota’s continuing passion for Xenoblade is evident throughout her posts on social media.
While Nintendo and Monolith Soft have carefully avoided confirming a fourth entry in the Xenoblade Chronicles franchise, series creator Tetsuya Takahashi did talk about the possibility back in 2022. Those who bought the soundtrack for Xenoblade Chronicles 3 found a special message from Takahashi, where he addressed the future of the series. The creator noted that if there is another entry in the series, he wants to do something “vastly different from what came before.” Takahashi noted that those differences would come across both “in style and in music.” Of course, that desire for a change in sound would not necessarily preclude Kiyota from being involved.
For now, Xenoblade Chronicles fans will have to wait patiently to see what Nintendo has to announce. When the series began life on Wii, no one could have predicted that it would grow into such an important series for Nintendo. And yet, a fourth entry now seems like a very real possibility, early into the Switch 2 era. Whether Monolith Soft is working on Xenoblade Chronicles 4 or something else entirely, the studio’s quality of output is sure to get fans excited for what comes next regardless. The developer managed to create incredible visuals on the original Switch, and it will be very interesting to see what it does with more powerful hardware.
Would you like to see another Xenoblade game from Monolith Soft? Or would you prefer to see the studio handle a new property instead? Share your thoughts with me directly on Bluesky atย @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram atย @Dachampgaming!
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