Japanese developer Monolith Soft is primarily known as the developer of the Xenoblade Chronicles series, but it also contributed to several The Legend of Zelda games, including 2011's Skyward Sword (which got an HD remaster on its tenth anniversary) and, more recently, to 2017's Breath of the Wild and its sequel, 2023's Tears of the Kingdom, both of which were highly acclaimed.
Yesterday, Nintendo posted an interesting dual interview featuring The Legend of Zelda General Manager Daiki Iwamoto and Monolith Soft Director Yasuhiro Fujita. In the conversation, the duo looked back on this special collaboration between Nintendo EPD and Monolith and, right at the end of the article, Iwamoto expressed the desire for the latter studio to play a 'central role' in 'creating the Zelda series from scratch'.
Monolith Soft now has a system in place that allows them to handle everything from coming up with ideas in the early stages of development to incorporating them into the actual game, so we expected them to be more involved in the creative aspects than ever before. [...] I would like Monolith Soft to play a central role as a strong partner in creating the Zelda series from scratch. I hope that the know-how we have cultivated through our work together will further enhance the overall team strength of Monolith Soft, and we will continue to create unique series titles together.
Fans took that to mean that Monolith might, in the future, become the lead developer of its own Zelda game, though Iwamoto's statement still refers to the team as a 'strong' partner, but a partner nonetheless. Whether that comes to pass remains to be seen. It may not be long before the studio headquartered in Meguro, Tokyo, unveils its next project. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 launched in August 2022, so it's been over three years; sure, there was the release of Chronicles X's Definitive Edition in March 2025, but that was mostly a remaster that is unlikely to have taken up a lot of the studio's resources.
Would you like to see a Monolith-led Zelda?
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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