The project manager of Nintendo UK, Gemma Hall, was recently interviewed by MCV, a magazine which focuses on the business aspects of the video game industry. In this interview, she mentioned Xenoblade Chronicles X, Nintendo’s only really big holiday title this time around. Because MCV is a business magazine, Hall’s comments were mostly about marketing, but those comments were also very revealing as to how Nintendo is framing this RPG.

“Xenoblade Chronicles X will speak to anyone who loves epic RPGs, as it has everything you could want from a big sweeping sci-fi adventure, with rich diverse landscapes, deep customization options, a unique battling system, and a host of memorable characters. We are therefore not only targeting it towards fans of the original Xenoblade Chronicles, but to broader JRPG fans looking for their next epic RPG adventure. The game is visually sumptuous and will demand the attention of genre fans. We will be focusing activity initially around Xenoblade Chronicles fans, and then broadening out to wider RPG fans with a tightly targeted digital campaign.

“We have a wealth of Wii U games that will be part of our Christmas campaign, including Splatoon and Super Mario Maker. However, Xenoblade Chronicles X is a more serious RPG offering, with stunning graphics and sweeping sci-fi story, and so we expect this to open up the Wii U to the more hardcore RPG audience who won’t want to miss out on this future genre classic.

“We can see there is a big appetite for proper JRPGs within the home console market, and not much currently fulfilling it. On the 3DS, titles such as Bravely Default and Fire Emblem Awakening have proved hugely popular, and so we know that within our Nintendo audience this genre is particularly well received. It will be great to offer this type of game to the Wii U audience as well.

“This game is very unique within the release schedule. The only other vaguely comparable title – Fallout 4 – is a very different breed of RPG so there is nothing similar within this window that offers dedicated RPG fans the score and depth of gameplay that Xenoblade Chronicles X does. As one fan said ‘It’s giant robots, flying around a massive field, fighting things. There’s nothing not to love about that.'” — Gemma Hall