Xbox calls Tango acquisition ‘a great step’ in expanding its studios in Japan

Microsoft’s gaming boss Phil Spencer has called the acquisition of Toyko-based Tango Gameworks as part of its Bethesda deal “a great step” towards achieving Xbox’s ambitions in Japan.

Tango is the Ghostwire Tokyo and Evil Within developer founded by Shinji Mikami, the acclaimed creator behind Resident Evil.

Along with seven other Bethesda studios, Tango is now officially an Xbox first-party developer following the completion of Microsoft’s $7.5 billion acquisition this week.

Speaking during a live stream held to celebrate the deal this week, Spencer, who has long stated his desire to acquire Japan-based talent, specifically highlighted Tango as a developer he’s looking forward to working with.

“I’m ready to go to Tokyo, to go see Tango [Gameworks], a studio which I have such respect for [and] the history of the creations there,” he said.

“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. Thinking about the map of where these teams are, and talking about all the games they’re working on… I can’t wait to speak to the Tango team and get to know them.”

In a video shared during  the same live stream, Tango’s founder Shinji Mikami said he was  “look[ing] forward to the inspiration that will spark from our new relationship with the people at Xbox.”

Mikami is currently serving as executive producer on Ghostwire: Tokyo, a timed PS5 console exclusive, which Microsoft has said it will honour. The game will also be released for PC, and going forwards the platform holder has said some Bethesda games will be exclusive to Xbox and PC.

Microsoft is making renewed efforts in Japan with its latest console launch. Xbox Series X and S launched day-and-date with other territories last November (compared to a year later with its previous console) and Phil Spencer has said it intends to better cater to Japanese players this console generation.

Since it launched Xbox Game Pass for both console and PC in Japan last April, Xbox has seen more player activity than in any time in its history in Japan, Spencer has previously claimed.

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The exec openly expressed a desire to acquire an Asian game developer, “in particular a Japanese studio”, on multiple occasions in 2019.

Asked by Bloomberg in November to comment on its acquisition efforts, Jeremy Hinton, head of Xbox operations in Asia, said that acquisitions were a possibility and that the company was “always open to discussions with creators that are a good fit”.

The publication also cited Xbox’s head of developer relations, Sarah Bond, who reportedly said that Microsoft was stepping up discussions with Japan-based game developers about releasing titles on Xbox.

Koei Tecmo is said to be one of those firms. Hisashi Koinuma, president of the Japanese publisher, told Bloomberg he was willing to consider releasing more games for Xbox if the company shows continued interest in Japan.