Microsoft Wants to Buy Japanese Development Studios

It is alleged that Microsoft is trying to expand its first-party portfolio by purchasing “small to large” Japanese studios. Bloomberg reports that some studios in Japan were approached by Microsoft to buy them. Jeremy Hinton, head of Xbox operations in Asia, said that Microsoft was always open to discussions with appropriate creators, but refused, despite the studios wanting not to be named and not to elaborate on how the controversy ended.

One of the studios reportedly included Koei Tecmo. President Hisashi Koinuma stated that he is willing to consider releasing more games on Xbox if the US company continues to show interest in Japan.

“The Xbox has a chance to make Japan the second-largest market after the United States if it takes the right steps in the coming years,” said Hideki Yasuda, the analyst at the Tokyo-based Ace Research Institute.

“Microsoft won’t be able to take Sony’s # 2 position in Japan recently, but at least it started making changes. A big wave always starts with a small change.”