Gaming is a unique opportunity to bridge communities and cultures together, with new partnerships growing between international brands in lesser-appreciated communities. In that same idea, Microsoft has hired a new Director of Partnerships for Xbox in Japan, Mena Sato Kato, who used to be a Vice President in charge of first-party titles for PlayStation.
The news was shared by accounts like Klobrille on Twitter, who stated that the new Director would help American-based Microsoft acquire new partnerships with Japanese studios. This seems to be a clear sign that the Xbox developer may be looking to move into markets that have traditionally been more reliable for Sony’s console.
Microsoft has already made considerable investments in some bigger Japanese studios, like when it was able to bring the three latest main Persona titles and the entirety of the Yakuza series to Game Pass. Further partnerships would likely see more popular and lesser-known developers seeing partnership opportunities with Microsoft’s console.
It’s unclear how effective Microsoft’s endeavors in Japan will be, but this new hire last month seems to show that the company is motivated to pursue this new business.
Make sure to check back at Try Hard Guides for all the latest information about the new Japanese partnerships between developers and Xbox.
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