The Xbox Series lineup has enjoyed much more success in Japan than its predecessor with the Xbox One. Even if the latter did abysmal in the country, it’s still a positive showing for the latest generation console.
It’s also good news for their business strategy in wanting to improve Microsoft’s and Xbox’s gaming lineup in Japan, as said by Xbox boss Phil Spencer. So it’s no surprise they wish to get more Japanese titles to their console, according to corporate VP of gaming ecosystem Sarah Bond.
During an IGN Japan livestream, she was asked if owners of the Xbox should expect more original Japanese titles published by the company – to which her response was a resounding yes.
“Completely,” Bond answered. “One of the things that I’m super excited about is that we have over 250 developers in Japan developing games for Xbox right now. 150 have already shipped, 100 of them are in Game Pass and we [recently] got to announce 15 titles made in Asia and 13 in Japan.”
She would also tease upcoming projects by saying, “So much has come, but there’s even more that’s going to come in the future and I can’t wait to reveal it to you all as it starts coming out.”
In the past, examples of Microsoft published Japanese titles on Xbox were Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey. Both games launched way back for the Xbox 360 and featured a development team led by Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi. Blue Dragon also had artwork by famed Dragon Ball artist Akira Toriyama.
But those are examples of games from long ago, yet it seems Microsoft will be continuing their hopes of growing their portfolio with the recently announced project with Hideo Kojima and his gaming studio. They’ve also made major strives in their Xbox Game Pass service with the announcement of the Persona series coming to it.
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