Phil Spencer says Microsoft isn't shopping around for Japanese studios

A Bloomberg report from earlier this week said that Microsoft, still feeling the warm afterglow of the Bethesda acquisition, is in the market for some Japanese game studios. Several developers based in Japan had said they'd been approached by the company about a possible buyout, according to the report, although they all requested anonymity as the talks had not been publicly disclosed.

In an interview with Gamespot, however, Xbox boss Phil Spencer said that as far as he knows, that's not actually the case. 

"I don't think so... I mean, I'm not in every meeting that every team has, but I'll say not from me," he told the site. "Most of the opportunities that we've had to date have been a long-lasting relationship, and so, I don't think we're out there with our business card, throwing them out on the corner, trying to find people."

Microsoft very recently got its hands on Japanese studio Tango Gameworks, the developer of The Evil Within games, as part of the $7.5 billion Bethesda Softworks acquisition. Spencer mentioned it as sort of a personal highlight of the deal, although he emphasized that it's not a sign of any larger, ongoing ambitions.

"I've talked about my affinity for Japanese studios and thinking back in the day when we had more games that were created in Japan as part of our first party, I'm excited when the deal closes to get to spend more time with Tango [Gameworks] and the work that they're doing," Spencer said. "So it's an area that I'm interested in, but no, I don't think it's... I think that's not accurate."

Tango Gameworks is currently working on Ghostwire: Tokyo, an action-adventure announced in 2019 that looks to be a fair departure from the survival horror of The Evil Within. It's currently expected to be out sometime in 2021, and despite the studio's new ownership, it will remain a timed console exclusive on the PlayStation 5.

In the same interview, Spencer also revealed that he's played Elden Ring, the mysterious new project in the works at FromSoftware. Apparently it's looking quite good.