Why Nintendo Buying the Rights to Xenosaga Could Be a Big Deal

Xenoblade Chronicles is easily one of Nintendo’s most popular modern franchises, right up there with the Fire Emblem series. Diehard Xenoblade fans are probably quite familiar with the convoluted origins of both the franchise and the games that came before it. Those who only have a passing interest in the IP, however, may be surprised to learn that it is actually a part of the broader Xeno franchise, much like how Persona is a subseries of Shin Megami Tensei.

The Xeno series is way older than Xenoblade itself. It didn’t start off with 2010’s Xenoblade Chronicles, but rather with a 1998 PS1 game called Xenogears.

Unlike the Xenoblade series, Xenogears was not made by the Nintendo-owned studio Monolith Soft. It was instead developed by Square, the precursor to what would eventually become Square Enix. Though it received critical acclaim, Xenogears was infamously left unfinished, with the second half of the game essentially being relegated to a series of cutscenes rather than playable gameplay segments.

Xenogears and Xenosaga Were the Precursors to Xenoblade

Many of the team members at Square that made Xenogears left the company to establish Monolith Soft, which would go on to create the Xenoblade series that we all know and love.

In between Xenogears and Xenoblade, however, was another Xeno subseries that never really got the attention that it deserved. This was, of course, the Xenosaga franchise. Consisting of three mainline games and three spin-off titles, Xenosaga was primarily developed by Monolith Soft. However, the franchise was generally relegated to the PlayStation 2, and barring the release of one side entry, never really had a big presence on Nintendo consoles.

The main reason why the Xeno franchise has been divided up into so many subseries is because each individual IP is owned by a different company. Xenogears is owned by Square Enix, Xenoblade is owned by Nintendo, and Xenosaga is owned by Bandai Namco. Since Xenosaga and Xenogears have been dormant for a long time, almost none of their installments are easily accessible on modern consoles. This could change soon, however.

Nintendo May Have Bought the Xenosaga IP from Bandai Namco

A few days ago, some eagle-eyed fans on X discovered that the recent trailer for Xenoblade Chronicles 2’s upcoming Switch 2 Edition, contained an interesting detail that suggests something may have happened with the Xenosaga franchise. MOMO, a character from Xenosaga, is going to make a cameo appearance as a Blade in Xenoblade Chronicles 2’s new port. Though this wouldn’t mark the first appearance of a Xenosaga character in a Xenoblade game, the trailer for this MOMO cameo is of particular interest, as there is no Bandai Namco licensing watermark in it.

Normally, when a company features content from a franchise that it does not own, they tend to include copyright text that indicates the IP’s rightful owners. Nintendo has done no such thing with this recent trailer, even though it had done so in the past.

Nintendo may have acquired Xenosaga
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Some people online have alleged that Bandai Namco removed Xenosaga from its Japanese licenses webpage between October and November of last year. While it’s true that Xenosaga is no longer included here, it is worth nothing that an official soundtrack video for the Xenosaga Piano Collection vinyl did include a Bandai Namco copyright disclaimer. That was released only 6 months ago, which implies that Bandai still owned the rights to the IP at the time that this was published.

Based off of the available information, many gamers online have suggested that Nintendo may have acquired the Xenosaga IP from Bandai Namco. Such a thing has yet to be made public, but if so, it could have very promising implications for the future of the series.

Nintendo Could Bring the Classic Xenosaga Games to Modern Platforms

Bandai Namco has made it pretty clear that it has no intentions of doing anything significant with the Xenosaga franchise, considering that it’s practically been dead for more than 2 decades. Under Nintendo, though, it’s possible that all of the entries in the franchise could get modern re-releases on Nintendo consoles.

Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht, Xenosaga Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Böse, Xenosaga Episode III: Also sprach Zarathustra, and Xenosaga Freaks are all currently stuck on the PlayStation 2, with no way of legally purchasing them on any platform.

Two of the spin-offs in the series, Xenosaga: Pied Piper and Xenosaga I & II, are, for the most part, trapped on mobile phones and Nintendo DS consoles, respectively. Pied Piper did actually get a re-release on Nintendo Switch and Steam a few months ago, but this version of the game is only available in Japan.

It’s unlikely that Nintendo would want to continue Xenosaga with a brand-new video game, when it already has Xenoblade under its belt, but remasters of the old entries in the series for Nintendo Switch 2 would go a long way in satisfying long-time fans. If Monolith Soft’s Baten Kaitos games can get remasters, then why can’t its Xenosaga games get them, as well?