The Xbox showcase is reportedly happening during the first quarter of the year 2023, and it will debut Tango Gameworks’ new title.
During the latest episode of The XboxEra Podcast, Jeff Grubb mentioned that he has heard about the early 2023 Xbox showcase event that others have been talking about. He added that there’s enough smoke there for it to be true. While he doesn’t seem to know most of the details, he did mention that he knew about one of the games that will be showcased at the event.
The game in question is a “Pentiment level” title from Xbox Game Studios, implying that it isn’t a AAA project and more along the lines of an indie production. Grubb mentioned that the title isn’t being developed by Obsidian, and later revealed that it is in fact a Tango Gameworks project. Having finished work on Ghostwire: Tokyo earlier this year, this would be the studio’s first project as part of Microsoft’s first-party game studios.
Previously, it was revealed that Microsoft is looking to form a long-term strategic partnership between Xbox and some of the largest Japanese game developers. The software giant has posted a new job listing for the position of Director of Japan Creator Partnerships. The new recruit will be responsible for building a long-term strategic partnership between Xbox and prominent Japanese game developers.
Furthermore, as the Director of Japan Game Creator Partnerships, the new recruit will be 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.
As for how this new strategic venture pans out and what it means for potential studio acquisitions by Microsoft in Japan remains to be seen.
