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Just a Thought: Monolith Soft a Nintendo 2nd-party now?

T

Terrell

Member
Now, don't get me wrong, I couldn't say anything for sure, but when I stacked up all the facts, I kinda got the impression that Monolith Soft was moving on from Namco and has partnered up with Nintendo now.

The facts:

- The Xenosaga series is permanently ending after Xenosaga Episode III, despite the initial claim of 6 games in the saga being prepared

- Baten Kaitos DS, previously announced for the system, disappears, replaced by the release of Xenosaga I&II to tie up all the series' loose ends

- Baten Kaitos II, rumored to be using the storyline planned for the DS game, is not published by Namco in either Japan or North America, with Nintendo picking up publishing in both regions

- Out of nowhere, Monolith Soft announces Disaster: Day of Crisis for Wii, being published by Nintendo with nary a mention of Namco being involved

My theory:

Monolith Soft was growing dis-satisfied with its business relationship with Namco, and after poor support from the company of its non-Xenosaga projects (such as the cancellation of Baten Kaitos DS), the company decided to end the Xenosaga series prematurely and farm itself out to other publishers. With a half-completed Baten Kaitos II, they approach Nintendo about funding its completion. After a mutually-beneficial publishing agreement, Monolith Soft decides that they will create a game for Wii, and once Xenosaga Episode III is released and finished, Monolith Soft will begin the legal and financial proceedings to becoming an official Nintendo 2nd-party developer.


Now, I know it sounds unlikely... but if there's anything I've learned, it's that the video game industry is chock full of crazy and unbelievable events... two Square Enix launch titles for Wii, for example, or Microsoft buying out Rare for another. Compared to those 2 things, Monolith Soft leaving Namco behind doesn't seem all that far-fetched.
 
Could be...we'll have to wait and see...but you can't rule these things out. Nintendo haven't bought into any developers for a while now...:D Microsoft and Sony have bought into loads of developers...in recent years.
 
Why does Nintendo always go for the 2nd rate developers like Kuju and Monolith Soft. or just plain crappy developers like N-Space?

It's like after Retro and Camelot they can't find anybody good anymore.
 
I thought the Disaster game was the other Monolith. The one that made F.E.A.R. or whatever? Is it not a western game after all?
 
Kabouter said:
Phew for a minute there I was worried the good Monolith was going to be Nintendo 2nd party.
Click to expand...

Oh Nintendo is evil , they don't deserve it. :lol

Tony HoTT said:
I thought the Disaster game was the other Monolith. The one that made F.E.A.R. or whatever? Is it not a western game after all?
Click to expand...

It's monolith soft not monolith
 
Tony HoTT said:
I thought the Disaster game was the other Monolith. The one that made F.E.A.R. or whatever? Is it not a western game after all?
Click to expand...
No, it's from Monolith Soft, a Namco subsidiary and based in Japan.
 
jj984jj said:
Why does Nintendo always go for the 2nd rate developers like Kuju and Monolith Soft. or just plain crappy developers like N-Space?

It's like after Retro and Camelot they can't find anybody good anymore.
Click to expand...
Brownie Brown says hi.
 
Matt said:
No, it's from Monolith Soft, a Namco subsidiary and based in Japan.
Click to expand...
oh damn, i guess i stopped paying attention to the game after E3 and back then we thought this was a western game. oh well.
 
Terrell said:
Seiken Densetsu fans would disagree with you there.
Click to expand...
Ehh, most people consider Sword of Mana a disappointment. Other than that the founding members of Brownie Brown's main Seiken Densetsu role was art in Legend of Mana.
 
lancubap said:
Question: is Tri-crescendo an italian's studio ?
Click to expand...
:lol

No, they are a Japanese sound studio that started developing games with Baten Kaitos.
 
JoshuaJSlone said:
Ehh, most people consider Sword of Mana a disappointment. Other than that the founding members of Brownie Brown's main Seiken Densetsu role was art in Legend of Mana.
Click to expand...
The company president was the character designer for Secret of Mana, Seiken 3 and Legend of Mana, actually. And nearly all of the original members of the team are from the Seiken team in some form or another.

And lest ye forget: MOTHER 3.
 
jj984jj said:
Brownie Brown is also second rate.
Click to expand...

They also go to good developers like AlphaDream, Cing, Treasure,iNiS, Suzak, Square-Enix, Capcom,Paon,Tose dev team,Fuse Games, Chunsoft,Jupiter, etc. It's the other side of the coin.
And Brownie Brown is not a second rate. Sword Of Mana wasn't spectacular but it is not a bad game and Magical Vacation is pretty good.
It's weird Nintendo hasn't worked with other known Japanese devs like Level 5, Tri-Ace,Gust,Atlus, Irem, etc. It would be great if Nintendo approaches them, like they did with these others.
The problem is that they should extended this partnerships to their consoles as well, not just their handhelds.
 
jarosh said:
SECOND PARTY
YES
Click to expand...

No. It is not a second party. And the same is for Kuju, Cing, Alphadream, n-Space and a lot of others: they collaborate with Nintendo with a contract that concern only some exclusive games, but if one day they decided to make games for PS3, for example, they can (after finish the games, as the contract says).
I think that this approach to Third Parties is better then Yamauchi's approach, because:

-It costs less money (a lot less, because they are not obligate to buy a tot % of shares of the company);
-If a developer became a problem for any sort fo motivations (like Rareware), a Third Party would not been a problem, but a Second Party yes: they have a contract of exclusivity for the long term.
 
BrandNew said:
When and how did we clear up that it wasn't the F.E.A.R Monolith that's making Day of Crisis, but the Baten Kaitos guys?
Click to expand...
When Nintendo updated the pdf on their press site.
 
jj984jj said:
Why does Nintendo always go for the 2nd rate developers like Kuju and Monolith Soft. or just plain crappy developers like N-Space?

It's like after Retro and Camelot they can't find anybody good anymore.
Click to expand...

Developers will stay 2nd rate unless companies like Nintendo give them a chance. With Battalion Wars and Baten Kaitos, I think both studios have shown some promise.

And Kuju isn't only working with Nintendo, they also have contracts with Sony (EyeToy, Singstar: Rocks!, Buzz), EA (Rail Simulator), Konami, Lucasarts (Traxion), Ubisoft and Codemasters (Sensible Soccer). All good publishers. Same with Monolith with Namco and in the past, Square.

I'll maybe give you n-Space. But again, I'm sure talented folks work down there as well.
 
Most gaming studios that branched from Square seem to suck after they leave.

Its like Rare when they left nintendo.

Also, I'd say Namco probably kicked Monolith soft out considering almost every game they've made has been financially diasappointing. Not to mention the games themselves suck too. BK was the only decent thing they've made and thats more Tri-Cresendo than Monolith-soft.

Monolith-soft deserves to be disolved. They have a lot of talent but they just don't mix together correctly to make a good game. I guess maybe Nintendo can inject some leadership and right this sinking ship cause Namco's just watching it go down.
 
Terrell said:
Now, don't get me wrong, I couldn't say anything for sure, but when I stacked up all the facts, I kinda got the impression that Monolith Soft was moving on from Namco and has partnered up with Nintendo now.

The facts:

- The Xenosaga series is permanently ending after Xenosaga Episode III, despite the initial claim of 6 games in the saga being prepared

- Baten Kaitos DS, previously announced for the system, disappears, replaced by the release of Xenosaga I&II to tie up all the series' loose ends

- Baten Kaitos II, rumored to be using the storyline planned for the DS game, is not published by Namco in either Japan or North America, with Nintendo picking up publishing in both regions

- Out of nowhere, Monolith Soft announces Disaster: Day of Crisis for Wii, being published by Nintendo with nary a mention of Namco being involved

My theory:

Monolith Soft was growing dis-satisfied with its business relationship with Namco, and after poor support from the company of its non-Xenosaga projects (such as the cancellation of Baten Kaitos DS), the company decided to end the Xenosaga series prematurely and farm itself out to other publishers. With a half-completed Baten Kaitos II, they approach Nintendo about funding its completion. After a mutually-beneficial publishing agreement, Monolith Soft decides that they will create a game for Wii, and once Xenosaga Episode III is released and finished, Monolith Soft will begin the legal and financial proceedings to becoming an official Nintendo 2nd-party developer.


Now, I know it sounds unlikely... but if there's anything I've learned, it's that the video game industry is chock full of crazy and unbelievable events... two Square Enix launch titles for Wii, for example, or Microsoft buying out Rare for another. Compared to those 2 things, Monolith Soft leaving Namco behind doesn't seem all that far-fetched.
Click to expand...

Actually, it sounds more like third party publishers simply don't want to take the risk of publishing on the wii platform unless Nintendo would go as far as publishing them just so a Namco team like Monolith Soft would develop a game for the wii, it's not because they have a "close relationship" but because Nintendo is taking care of the publishing costs and it has nothing to do with any kind of imaginary "making monolith soft second party".
 
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