With Monolith i totally get why, they can plot away on their pasion(xenoblade), but not only do they do this at an extreme pace, they are also highly proficient in the technological aspects nintendo needed, and helped with other projects.
No idea what REALLY happened with NST, but i assume its not for outsiders to know why it happend that way.
Retro... im honestly kinda confused why they did not intervene, but we will only know after MP4 is out, and more light comes on the years between TF and MP4. There definitely was something happening that had nintendo keep their trust in Retro, but still needed them to shut it down (otherwise we would have had something till now).
Yeah, its good that they are expanding, but how do the employee numbers compare over the last decade? i thing there was a time when more people where leaving? are we at an all time high in regards to employees?