Nintendo purchases a majority stake in Monolith Soft from previous owner Namco Bandai.
Nintendo will acquire 80 percent of Namco Bandai’s 96 percent share in Monolith Soft (Xenosaga) for approximately 75 million yen ($627,615) as of May 1. Namco Bandai will still be using their remaining 16 percent stake to manage Monolith Soft projects which will likely become Nintendo exclusives similar to Baten Kaitos for the Gamecube, Xenosaga I&II for the Nintendo DS and Disaster: Day of Crisis, an action titled in development for the Wii. This surprising deal is an unusual effort by Nintendo to both acquire a third party studio and receive roleplaying games dedicated to their consoles.
