Xbox Japan is working with “top-class developers” on “groundbreaking” product

Xbox Series X
(Image credit: Microsoft)

Xbox is seemingly going bigger on Japanese-made games.

Earlier today, Xbox's head of publishing in Japan, Matt Smith, put out the tweet just below, proclaiming that his team in the region is "growing." Not only that, but Smith claims he's working with "top-class developers" in Japan, pointing to "groundbreaking" projects in the works.

Right now of course, it's a little hard to gauge what the Xbox publishing team in Japan could actually be working on. The job listings that Smith provides in the follow-up tweets don't paint a clearer picture either, with the head of publishing announcing that roles for Senior Technical Producer, Software Engineer, Senior Software Engineer, and Senior Game Build Engineer are all open.

There isn't really any information to guess which developers Xbox could be working with, but to some extent that's just the secretive nature of the games industry. Right now, it's worth noting that Xbox oversees Shinji Mikami's Tango Gameworks, after it acquired parent company Bethesda back last year (Mikami would even appear alongside Xbox boss Phil Spencer in a Tokyo Game Show presentation last year). 

Smith's tweet could very well be referencing goings on at Tango Gameworks, then. Mikami himself has spoken about a desire to develop smaller games, and also revealed during the aforementioned Xbox broadcast at TGS that The Evil Within 2 director John Johanas is working on something brand new. Whether this is the case, or Xbox has found a brand new studio to work with in Japan, we can only wait to see.

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Hirun Cryer

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.

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