I don't see what most of that has to do with being "the King of the JRPG genre." Especially Atlus... so they don't sell as many games as Final Fantasy. Doesn't change the fact that their games are way better. If we're going by sales, Square is still the King.

Likewise, I don't see why Intelligent Systems limiting themselves at the moment to a couple of franchises disqualifies them. The games are generally excellent, with a couple exceptions that are merely great.

The deal with Monolith is that yeah, they made an outstanding game, but they have to prove it wasn't a fluke. They have to make another excellent game. Baten Kaitos was good but not great, and uh, Xenogears was made by Square? Sure there was some staff from that project who now work at Monolith (including the director), but that doesn't make it their game.

I could get behind Level-5 though. Let's see how Fantasy Life shapes up.

The simplest solution would be to just say Nintendo and its subsidiaries and call it a day. Then you get Monolith Soft, Intelligent Systems, the Pokémon Company, Creatures Inc (Mother), and a couple less notable studios.

XenoGears was Square.

XenoSaga was Monolith.

Ach! Somehow my mind changed it to gears as I was reading. Weird. I guess that's something, though. Haven't played Saga myself.

Monolith and (if Nintendo buys them) Mistwalker. They both certainly have the potential...

If we're talking about Square's level of commercial success in 90's with RPGs, than I'd say one that has best shot of making Japanese developed RPG (not necessarily JRPG) that will make a splash is From Software - sales of their Souls games have proved that, although not yet considered mainstream, they know pretty well what West wants out of RPGs, and at the same time to keep their Japanese audience.

Take a moment and brace yourself, because I am about to say something controversial. The heir apparent isn't even a Japanese studio. The one most likely to supplant Square is Zenimax. Given their success in the West it is probably only a matter of time before they turn their eyes to the East. You don't need a pedigree if you can be revolutionary, and this company could be just what the doctor ordered. Give them the format, and I guarantee you that they will not only take the genre in fantastic new directions, but they will be successful in doing that.

It's sad the state of the jrpg world, at least on consoles.. After not playing one for years I'm now on Lost odyssey and it's just brilliant. I sadly doubt we'll see anything like the 90's again.

I second that Atlus comment.  Atlus caters to there fanbase.  Specifically, the Shin Megami Tensei series is where it's at.

monolith and mistwalker for my choices. loved xenoblade and baiten kaitos eternal wings and the lost ocean, xenosaga games from monolith (hated with a passion the 2nd baiten kaitos game that one sucked very much).
lost odyssey and blue dragon, loved those from mistwalker. i know mistwalker has said they are working on a new game for nintendo if i remember right, will look around for that quote though.

They can't be the new squaresoft, because they dont' even make games yet, they're newly formed and it's the elder scrolls mmo,  they own studios Bethesda, Id, and Arkane and others. two of which imo have gotten worse with id being terribly worse, and have dumb downed their games from previous iterations. Also, how's it  even related to the thread because they don't make JRPG's?

What games has Zenimax done that revolutionized anything?
Each elder scrolls since dagger fall has gotten dumb downed some things for accessibility and made a better game, but little new has been introduced. (still excellent games)
Dishonored is like a thief.
Fallout 3. Took out many other things that were previously in the fallout series. Fallout New Vegas Reintroduced them but that was made by obsidian.

Imo in quality it currently is atlus. With an array of games
SMT
Persona
Catherine
Radiant Historia
Devil Summoner.

 Sales wise it's still square... since DQ and FF are still the kings of sales in JRPG's, aside from pokemon and monster hunter.