Nintendo and Monolith Soft appear to have acquired the Xenosaga RPG series IP from Bandai Namco Entertainment.
The Overview trailer (via ResetEra member MoonCrow for Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Nintendo Switch 2 Edition revealed that MOMO, a character from the Xenosaga series, will be added to the game as a cameo Blade. Eagle-eyed fans noticed that the announcement had no Bandai Namco Entertainment licensing watermark, suggesting that Nintendo and Monolith Soft may have acquired the rights to the Xenosaga IP.
Bandai Namco Entertainment appears to have removed Xenosaga from its Japanese licenses webpage between October and November of last year. Furthermore, ResetEra member and content creator Brazil pointed out that another Monolith Soft-related IP owned by the publisher, Baten Kaitos, is no longer present on its official website.
Further evidence comes from the Japanese Nintendo store page for Xenoblade Chronicles: Nintendo Switch 2 Edition, which cites and shows MOMO, but lists only Nintendo and Monolith Soft as copyright holders. However, it’s worth noting that Bandai Namco Entertianment is still listed as the developer and copyright holder of the recently released Xenosaga: Pied Piper on Steam. It’s possible that the deal between Nintendo and Bandai Namco Entertainment was only finalized after that release of the spinoff.
For the uninitiated, Xenosaga: The Pied Piper is a spinoff entry based on the Xenosaga storyline. It follows Ziggy, a key character from the main series, during his earlier life as a human named Jan Sauer. The narrative is set roughly 100 years before the events of Xenosaga Episode I and centers on his work in a federal counterterrorism unit as he tracks a serial killer known as Voyager. The gameplay retains a traditional turn-based RPG structure, presented from a 2D overhead perspective. Progression unfolds through a mix of dialogue sequences and cinematic scenes, with battles taking place in a virtual environment tied to the story.
