Hi-Fi Rush debuted in January and was the first Japanese production created by a Microsoft-owned studio. The company’s chief representative assures that many more titles are being developed, both by external partners and Xbox Game Studios.
Microsoft has been watching the Japanese market more closely for years and fighting for the attention of players from this region, but it must be admitted that the efforts do not bring such spectacular results. Popularity in the Land of the Rising Sun is a systematically discussed topic, which could not be omitted at the fair in Tokyo this time. During an interview with Game Watch, Phil Spencer confirmed that exclusive games from Japan will be available on Xbox.
The head of the Xbox brand stated that players “can expect” productions from Asia that will hit Xboxes and will not be another ports of games from PlayStation or Nintendo Switch consoles.
We actually released Hi-Fi Rush in January 2023. It may not have been a mainstream title like Blue Dragon, but it was certainly high quality. There are also Japanese game developers who are part of Microsoft Game Studios, and there are titles that we cannot announce yet, however, we are currently developing new games in cooperation with Japanese companies. I believe that as first-party and third-party games continue to develop, we can expect even more Japanese titles to appear in the future.
There will still be time for specific announcements, although as we know, the giant from Redmond has Tango Gameworks in its ranks, which is certainly already developing the next project. At the same time, the Americans regularly cooperate with Sega and Capcom to release new products in Xbox Game Pass. It seems quite possible that one of the large producers and publishers could decide to sell new titles to Microsoft.
Source: VGC