Microsoft has made a big deal about the need to grow Xbox's presence in Japan over the past couple of years, and it seems like that's still a major focus for the team right now, as a major job role has just opened up at the company.
The ad, posted on the Microsoft website, is for a "Director of Japan Creator Partnerships", which requires the applicant to "develop strong professional relationships with key executive partners across the Japan gaming ecosystem".
"As the Director of Japan Game Creator Partnerships, you are responsible for leading a team of strategic partner managers located in Japan. This team is chartered to partner with Japan based game publishers and developers to create games for the Xbox ecosystem, including Xbox Game Pass (Console, PC, and Streaming), and empower Creators to grow, engage, and monetize their community of players.
You will empower the Game Creators to focus on their games and communities by introducing them to Microsoft products and services for building and operating their games and their business."
This isn't actually the first time we've seen this job role advertised by Microsoft in 2022, and other roles such as a "Production Partner Manager" have also cropped up for the Japan region over the past few months.
Looking back, we'd probably say Xbox's Tokyo Game Show event this year was one of the best showcases provided by anyone in 2022, and following the event, Xbox's Sarah Bond revealed that over 250 developers in Japan were currently working on Xbox games. In other words, it sounds like there's a bright future ahead!