A weak presence in Japan has been an issue that Xbox has been dealing with pretty much since its inception, but especially during the Xbox One years, the brand has been weaker than ever in the region. Xbox boss Phil Spencer has spoken time and time again about having a greater presence in Japan and Asia, possibly through the acquisition of local first party developers. With the recent acquisition of Bethesda, Microsoft have now added Tango Gameworks to their portfolio, which means they finally have a Japanese first party studio- and according to Xbox boss Phil Spencer, that’s just the first step in Xbox having a greater Japanese presence.
Speaking during the recent Microsoft-Bethesda roundtable discussion, Spencer expressed his excitement about getting to work with Tango Gameworks, while adding that them becoming an Xbox first party developer is the beginning of the brand having a larger first party presence in Japan (transcribed by Rectify Gaming).
“I’m ready to go to Tokyo. Yeah, I mean go see Tango [Gameworks], a studio that I have such respect for the history of the creations there,” said Spencer. “I’ve talked for a long time about our desire to have more of a first-party presence in Japan. This is a great step there.
“So I mean, just thinking about the map of where these teams are, and they just talk about all the games they’re working on, but I can’t wait to spend more time with the Tango team and get to know them.”
Tango Gameworks is currently working on GhostWire: Tokyo, which, funnily enough, will be releasing exclusively for PS5 and PC later this year, owing to exclusivity deals made by Bethesda and Sony prior to the former’s acquisition by Xbox.
