Xbox Japan
Image: Ghostwire: Tokyo, Tango Gameworks

We have to admit, we've been really impressed by Xbox's efforts in Japan as of late, especially its recent Tokyo Game Show livestream, which was jam packed with Japan-flavoured Game Pass announcements. As it turns out, this doesn't look like the end of Xbox's upward trajectory in the Japanese market - far from it. Team Xbox's Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond have recently gone on record to say that Xbox is continuing to build in the region, including the creation of original Japanese titles.

Bond spoke with IGN Japan about all things Xbox at TGS, and how the team is looking to build original games for the region. When asked if players should expect more Xbox Games Studios titles along the lines of Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey, Bond said:

"Completely [...] One of the things that I’m super excited about is that we have over 250 developers in Japan developing games for Xbox right now. 150 have already shipped, 100 of them are in Game Pass and we [just] got to announce 15 titles made in Asia and 13 in Japan."

Over at Japanese site Game Watch, Xbox boss Phil Spencer made similar comments on Xbox's commitment to the region, as translated by VGC:

"It’s not too much to hope for. We’ve just met with Kojima-san from Kojima Productions and many other game creators to talk about bringing unique titles to the Xbox."

"We understand that many game fans want that. We are also aware of the common desire for games from Japan. We are working on creating such titles, so please look forward to it."

The news that Xbox is seemingly looking to build on its Japanese portfolio in-house will be welcome to many. The two titles mentioned, Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey, launched right at the start of the Xbox 360 era, and we've not seen a similar first-party push since.

Of course, with Xbox's acquisition of Bethesda, Japanese studio Tango Gameworks is now under the Xbox banner, so that's one such team creating Xbox first party titles. As for any others? We'll just have to wait and see.

What do you make of this? Excited to see Xbox make strides in Japan? Let us know in the comments!

[source videogameschronicle.com, via youtube.com]