Level-5 have history with Xbox with True Fantasy Live which was cancelled.
And that’s the reason why we never will see an Level-5 Xbox game. They are still not over it. I would be surprised if Microsoft acquired them but I also read somewhere that they have financial problems.
I applaud that. Alan Wake has definitely shown its age but Quantum Break plays way better than I remember it at launch. I really loved Control, you have to get to the maze portion to really understand the creativity brewing in that studio. They aren’t perfect games but they are incredibly interesting and very compact. Little to no fat in any of their games. They probably will remain independent but I really hope if they decide to go first party it’s with MS and not Sony.
I definitely need to play Control more; the political situation around the DLC and next-gen upgrades soured things a wee bit for me. Quantum Break however is one of my favorite games this generation, and Alan Wake is the same for the 360 gen in my opinion (and there’s some sentimental value there for me). I think Remedy is likely not going to happen, but I still dream about that being a possibility.
I would be surprised if Microsoft buys (or creates) a Japanese studio. Xbox brand is almost 0 in Japan. If there is any studio that is OK to release all their games on xbox with zero impact in their own country / culture… it is because the studio itself is really struggling.
We may see more publishing deals (for risky projects that no other japanese-focused publishers want to deal with) or temporal (console) exclusives, but do not expect studio acquisitions.
Nonetheless, I believe we will see more third-party, japanese games on xbox. It seems that xbox tech stack (and testing facilities) eases porting of unreal-based console games to PC. I would be surprised if japanese studios do not take the opportunity to grow their market (by releasing on PC and increasing their user base in US… two slices where xbox still has a big market position).
They wouldn’t be confined to just xbox though. PC gaming has made Japanese developers alot of money and with xcloud launching in Japan it could become a huge platform for Japanese people
I think a lot of the speculation comes from the fact that Phil said the two places he would want to get new studios are Japan and Poland.
About Japan and Xbox
It isn’t really true that Xbox has zero presence in Japan, I believe it is known well enough as a niche console in the gaming community there. One of the major problems for MS is Sony buys exclusivity on titles where the publisher can afford to put their games on Xbox in Japan. I’m talking about the ones that are on the Xbox in the rest of the world, but not Japan or Asia specifically. They don’t have to do it considering the small market share of the Xbox, but it obviously costs them very little and also keeps a competitor from gaining a foothold.
Also I believe the traditional home console in Japan isn’t looked upon favorably in general. For kids I imagine it is okay to have one, but for adults who are supposed to be working and contributing to society not playing video games, it has a negative stigma associated with it. I guess it isn’t too different than western countries really, just amplified. This is one of the reasons why in Japan mobile is king. You can have a phone which is a productivity device but use it to play games. Again not much different than in the west where you buy a $1000 phone because you “need it for work/doing productive stuff on it” while really just using it to play around on.
xCloud and Gamepass will help in Japan, I think Xbox will see a decent boost from it.
Ive been playing through the Yakuza series and I really believe acquiring Sega would be fucking smart for MS. Put some of these console exclusive series on PC.
RRG is an incredible studio, not to mention their close ties to most of Segas studios already. And then put out the Series X under the Sega name in Japan.
Anyone else think MS should acquired Paradox the actual publisher? They wouldn’t do much for console but they could single handedly carry Game Pass on PC
Crusader King 3 is day one on gamepass, I think it’s not necessary to buy them, just pay for their game day one on gamepass
I’d like to see Microsoft go after a European publisher, like Paradox or Focus, as much for the knowledge of the European market as their internal developers. Xbox needs to make a splash to gain back ground that they lost to Sony in the Europe and I think they will struggle as long as decisions for that market are being made in Redmond.
As for other developers–
Ghost Ship Games-- Makers of Deep Rock Galactic; kind of hits the sweet spot for Xbox of FPS and Online Co-Op games
Turtle Rock (Formerly Valve South)-- Counter-strike and Left 4 Dead; for the same reason as Ghost Ship-- FPS + Online co-op is sweet spot for the Xbox brand;
Cold Symmetry-- If they can’t get From; I’d like to see them go after Cold Symmetry, who just made Mortal Shell; and grow that studio to make quality Souls-like games for Xbox for years to come
Mediatonic–The makers of Fall Guys; if they don’t get bought by someone in the next few months I’d be surprised. Microsoft does have a history of working with them, and at this point, buying the company is probably the best hope of seeing Fall Guys on the Xbox platform.
Since they missed out on Double Helix, I would like to see them either buy Iron Galaxy (who did seasons 2 + 3 of KI), or establish their own internal fighting game studio. Killer Instinct needs to be a core series for Xbox that gets a new installment every generation going forward.
One other thing I’d like to see them invest in is a dedicated music studio or two, maybe centered around composers like Gareth Coker and/or Grant Kirkhope to help support the various XGS games. Music can help elevate a game and the overall experience, and it’s something that likely falls out of the core competencies of most game studios. Even the studios that have dedicated composers, they may not have ready access to studio musicians for live recordings of their music. I’d also imagine that it’s something that would pay for itself relatively quick as studios no longer need to hire out, and the overhead costs can be spread across multiple projects.
Partnership with publishers seems good enough. They are a major boost to Game Pass on PC already.
Remember guys, Microsoft can’t buy all the studios and IP. They don’t have unlimited funds + some studios just hate the idea of Microsoft owning them.
Yeah why not. Would be a nice bunch of IP’s too. But the cooperation they have now with Game Pass is nice as well.
I mean, they probably could.
As a console gamer thats a hard pass
I used to be a huge Sega fan, but Yakuza is probably the only game(s) they’ve released in years that i wanted to play. Is Sega putting out anything good that im not thinking of? If Microsoft is going to buy a Japanese company I assume it’ll be one that makes games that do well in the western market.
I don’t expect them to buy them all. I just expect them to grow to the point they put out big first party content every 3 or so months. That likely means 22-25 studios. I also think making the moves now is the smart thing to do so the studios have time to put together content this gen. Acquiring someone like a WB would put them right there but so would buying 6 or so studios, take your pick 
Sony doesn’t have that many studios.
Why does it matter how many studios sony has