to the story-driven structure of Xenoblade Chronicles while building upon the gameplay and technology of Xenoblade Chronicles X. One of the game's story prototypes was later turned into an expansion titled Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna – The Golden Country, released in 2018. In addition to this, Monolith Soft also began development of a fantasy action game, hiring new staff for the project. The company opened new studios in Nakameguro and Iidabashi during 2017 and 2018. The 1st Production team, known for their work on the Xenoblade Chronicles series, started hiring staff for development of a new RPG project in October 2018. In March 2019, the 2nd Production team started hiring staff for a new project in The Legend of Zelda franchise. Between 2018 and 2019, the Iidabashi studio closed. In April 2019, in the wake of high revenue during the 2018–2019 fiscal period, the company opened a new studio in Ōsaki, Tokyo. Games Lead development This list is for games to which Monolith Soft contributed substantially, being either a major co-developer or the main developer. Support development This list is for titles where a studio of Monolith Soft acted in a lesser supporting role to the main developer. Monolith Soft Tokyo, the development branch who lead development on their Xenoblade franchise and other of their franchises, is one of the companies responsible for support in game design for Breath of the Wild titles in The Legend of Zelda franchise, while the other games have Monolith Soft Kyoto, which is only a support studio, acting as one of the support studios for art and graphics. Philosophy From the company's inception, Takahashi and Sugiura wanted to give creative freedom to pursue projects outside genre standards, in addition to hiring young staff. An early aim was to encourage younger developers to make their mark in the industry, which at the time was dominated by people in the late 30s and up. This outlook was the reason why younger staff were given charge of the Xenosaga series. Kojima stated that younger developers were preferred as they could bring interesting ideas to a project. According to Sugiura, a major element during the period in which Monolith Soft was under Namco was the focus on creativity. They wanted to balance this with the financial logistics of game design rather than having budgetary concerns stifle the creative flare of the staff. When talking about their Wii U