While many people love to praise the developers of consoles and the people who publish video games, it can’t be forgotten that the dev teams put in the most work to make video game titles come out. Those teams do long hours and pour over every aspect of their games to try and make the best titles possible, and when that effort shows, it’s obvious. But, of course, those teams get blasted when that effort doesn’t show, and they likely don’t last very long. One team that has been around for a long time is Monolith Soft.

Monolith Soft is the team behind many titles and has worked on several others. But the ones that they’re most famous for recently are the Xenoblade Chronicles titles. The four titles spanning the Wii, Wii U, 3DS, and Nintendo Switch systems have grown in popularity over the years, and their latest entry was even a Game of the Year nominee for many in 2022. Their RPGs were known for a deep battle system, expansive worlds, fun characters, and emotional stories.

With the new year now in full swing, a small update was made known about the company. Mainly, they’ve slightly downsized their personnel roster. It’s not a big drop, but it’s somewhat noticeable. But to counterbalance that, they shared some positivity by showcasing some art that was made from an in-house contest they did. You’ll recognize many characters that they drew: