Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is “nearing its final stages of development,” which is now expected to be the next Nintendo Switch game from Japanese studio Monolith Soft.
This rumour has surfaced after actress Jenna Coleman appeared in a brief interview with YouTube channel Din’s Meteorite, who lent her voice to Melia in the original Xenoblade Chronicles and then returned for the Future Connected epilogue chapter in the remastered Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition.
When asked about how she had secured the part, Coleman responded: “Do you know, I think it was like pre-Doctor Who and everything, so it was through my voiceover agent. And I did it… God, when was the first game? Like, 10 years ago? It was a long time ago, anyway. I did it pre-Doctor Who days, and when they did the second one they just asked me to come back. Erm, and I think they’re going to do another? Is that common knowledge? I don’t know. I think they’re going to do another. I don’t know if I’m allowed to say that…”
After her wayward comment spread like wildfire, a report from Fanbyte has confirmed that the game is in production and that the end of the trilogy will take place “in the far-flung future with a few returning characters who have long-outlived their human counterparts from both Xenoblade Chronicles and Xenoblade Chronicles 2.” With Melia set to return, they believe that she has recorded her voice over for the game and would therefore know about its existence.
The publication goes on to claim that Nintendo had planned to reveal Xenoblade Chronicles 3 earlier this year, but the challenges of developing during the COVID-19 pandemic and optimising the game for the portable home console have pushed the announcement back.
Their expectation is that Nintendo may still announce the game before the end of the calendar year and that it “could be released as soon as the first half of next year, delayed from its original and now exceedingly unlikely Winter 2021 target date.”
Back in August 2017, Monolith Soft had started a recruitment drive for an “ambitious” project that was teased alongside concept art that had shown a Medieval fantasy setting. It still remains unclear what this was for, and whether it shared any connection to the now rumoured Xenoblade Chronicles 3.
