Microsoft could be looking to add a slew of new Japanese studios to its cabal of first-party developers.
Bloomberg reports that the company is looking to diversify its portfolio of developers, which it recently spent $7.5 billion on working to acquire Bethesda parent company Zenimax.
Microsoft has allegedly approached a variety of Japanese developers in a bid to potentially purchase them. In addition, Koei Tecmo Games Co. president Hisashi Koinuma attests that Microsoft had even reached out with the intent to potentially form a partnership between the two entities.
With the Xbox's presence in Japan something of a diminished one, this could be a good move, especially as Microsoft wants to continue bolstering its presence in the country. This could end up happening organically with the debut of the Xbox Series S console, according to Ace Research Institute's Hideki Yasuda, out of Tokyo.
Yasuda believes that the Series S could find popularity due to its smaller size, as Japanese dwellings often have space at a premium. Being able to game from smaller systems or utilizing streaming services could be the answer to growing the Xbox's popularity, and both of those things are true of this new generation of consoles.
Microsoft was mum on the idea, telling Bloomberg that the company is of course always open to partnerships that make sense and are a "good fit" with Microsoft, but that they have nothing to share at this time. It's unclear whether the aforementioned partnership with Koei Tecmo may still be in the works at this point.
It doesn't seem that Microsoft is ready to pull the trigger, so to speak, on any particular partnerships at this time. But these reports do indicate that something could be on the horizon in the near future. We'll have to keep an eye out for potential announcements in the coming days.
