Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition Has ESRB Rating, Release Could be Near

Nick Tricome February 24, 2020 10:15 AM EST

The game now has a "T" ESRB rating on Nintendo's North American site, which hints that development is nearing the finish line.

Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition might be close.

After receiving its classification in Korea last week, the game now has a “T for Teen” ESRB rating on Nintendo’s North American website as first spotted by Xenoblade fan account XenoBits.

The ESRB has finally rated #XenobladeChronicles Definitive Edition. It was also just rated in South Korea recently, so it seems like development may be wrapping up on the game soon. This is it everyone! just a little longer and we’ll get some news. pic.twitter.com/vZCcjfOUkd — XenoBits: Definitive Edition (@XenoTrivia) February 23, 2020

Announced during the Sept. 4 Nintendo Direct for the Switch, Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition is a complete graphical overhaul of Monolith Soft’s beloved open-world JRPG with some additional content to boot.

Given a very broad 2020 release window, there hasn’t been any news on the game since its reveal, but a couple of retail listings and speculation have pointed to a potential May 29 launch. Those are far from confirmations, however, but having an ESRB rating does at least indicate that development is nearing the finish line.

The Xenoblade Chronicles series is held in high regard among fans and Nintendo itself now, but it took time to earn that acclaim.

The original game released for the Wii late into its life cycle, launching in Japan in 2010, Europe in 2011, and finally (after much struggle) North America in early 2012. It received a port exclusive to the “New” 3DS line in 2015, and was followed up with a new, unrelated adventure in Xenoblade Chronicles X for the Wii U later that year. But due to release timing, the performance of their respective platforms, or both, all three titles were limited in the size of the audience they could reach.

The series didn’t truly break out until late 2017 when Xenoblade Chronicles 2 launched for the Switch and took off. So, in many ways, the definitive edition is a chance for the first game to finally have a bigger spotlight.

Hopefully it won’t be much longer until we hear more about it. Signs point to that being the case.