Microsoft seeks to acquire “small and large” Japanese development studios • Eurogamer.net

A new report suggests that Microsoft is looking to expand its proprietary portfolio by acquiring “small to large” Japanese studios.

Bloomberg (thanks, VGC) reports that a number of studios based in Japan have been approached by Microsoft with a view to acquiring them. Although the studios have asked not to be named – and would not be drawn to the details of the conclusion of the talks – Xbox operations director in Asia, Jeremy Hinton, said Microsoft was “still open to discussions with the creators. who agree “but declined to comment on whether any acquisitions were to be announced soon.

It has been reported that one of the studios approached includes Koei Tecmo. President Hisashi Koinuma has reportedly said he was prepared to consider releasing more games on Xbox “if the American company shows continued interest in Japan”.

“Xbox has a chance to make Japan its second market after the United States if it takes the right steps for years to come,” said Hideki Yasuda, analyst at the Tokyo-based Ace Research Institute. “Sony’s attention is waning and fans have started to notice it.

“Microsoft will not be able to take Sony’s position as No. 2 [after Nintendo] in Japan so early, but at least it started to make changes. A big tide always begins with a small change. “

It looks like Yasuda isn’t the only one who believes Sony is focusing on PlayStation plans in the US.

“The consensus of analysts is that PlayStation no longer considers the Japanese market to be important,” added Kazunori Ito, analyst at Morningstar Research. “If you want to know their perspective on the Japanese market, you need to find out about it because otherwise Sony wouldn’t be talking about it.”

“At the end of the day, I believe in the X-series Microsoft did deliver a great next-gen system – but one that probably won’t show its many strengths at launch,” Digital Foundry’s Richard said in his Xbox review. Series X. “Part of this is due to the lack of proprietary titles that really put new technology to the test and another part is very much related to Microsoft’s vision of a more gradual evolution of the game as opposed to generational change and revolutionary that Sony is aiming for.with PlayStation 5.

“Publishers who wholeheartedly embrace inter-gen development at a level we’ve never seen before are also not helping the consoles in the series establish them as a full-fledged generation leap. In the here and now at least, I like the hardware in terms of what I can potentially experience with it, and the expert implementation of many of its forward-looking features – but a console is defined by its games. , and in that sense, I still have the feeling that I barely know the machine. “