In an internal interview from Monolith Soft’s 2024 brochure, Hirohide Sugiura, one of the company’s three founders, talked about its strengths – pointing out how it manages to be as productive as it is while also caring deeply about its employees. Some excerpts are below, translated by the Nintendo Everything team:
“The fact that we have prepared an environment where people can relax and work easily [is a strength of ours].”
“One characteristic of Monolith Soft is our work environment. For things like overtime pay that is calculated by the minute or easily granted paid time off, which is now standard in the gaming industry, we implemented such measures fairly early on. Even other companies in the industry have asked us for advice on how to implement these measures.”
“When people can secure time to spend with family or live a leisurely life, it allows them to focus on their work. Because then everyone can think more about improving their work performance, we were able to get estimates on development schedules much more easily than in the past.”
“We’ve also brought together many more people who share our views on work-life balance, making this part of our foundation, which is a great value.”
Monolith Soft began in 1999 when ex-Square employee Tetsuya Takahashi left to found his own studio alongside Yasayuki Honne and Hirohide Sugiura, after he felt the company was no longer the right place to continue working on the Xeno series – of which he is the main creator.
In the years since its founding, Monolith Soft partnered with Namco and developed classics such as Baten Kaitos, but in 2007 Nintendo brought them under its wing, and with the support of Big Na, Monolith Soft planned to expand the Xeno series under a new sub-series.
Xenoblade Chronicles, as the sub-series has come to be known, just finished a trilogy last year, fulfilling Takahashi’s dream from decades ago – and it looks like Monolith Soft has no plans to stop now.
Takahashi and Monolith Soft’s ambitions and dreams over the years have undoubtedly influenced their workplace philosophy, which focuses on empowering employees and giving them reasons to stick with the team.
Recognizing their talents and strength, Nintendo relied on Monolith for help with none other than its flagship The Legend of Zelda series. From Skyward Sword to Tears of the Kingdom, Monolith Soft has worked closely with Nintendo on Zelda, and while the Xenoblade Chronicles series has hit the bookends for now, it looks like the studio is just getting started.
