A week after the Xbox Games Showcase + Starfield Direct, Microsoft Gaming head Phil Spencer is doing a proper and much needed media tour in Japan, a market that has been historically difficult for Xbox in another attempt to appeal to japanese gamers.

Doing a quick stop in Japan, Microsoft Gaming and Xbox boss Phil Spencer decided to have a talk with Japanese Famitsu where he doubled down on having Xbox reconnect with the Japanese gaming market, mainly with Japanese gaming development.

Spencer said that having Capcom and Atlus on-board for main announcement including Exoprimal, Persona, etc., was important for Xbox and mainly at thi moment where Japanese gamers are embracing more Xbox than ever, and this is a great opportunity.

With that, their conversation turned to Kojima Productions, where last year and in a joint announcement, Hideo Kojima acknowledged to be working on an original Xbox games where technical things that the game include can only be achieved on Xbox Game Pass Cloud and since then, we haven’t heard anything else.

Regarding on the Kojima Productions and the exclusive Xbox game, Spencer said:

“[Development] is doing well! I have known Mr. Kojima for many years, but this is the first time we have worked together on a game. As you know, I visited the studio last year (2022) to hear about their current ambitions and play a bit of the game. What's amazing about Mr. Kojima is that he sets extremely high goals for innovation and creativity. And you have a great team. I wasn't in today's show, so I was asked by several people, but I answered, "I will hold more shows and set up a place to announce it." I am very happy to be able to work with Mr. Kojima on such an innovative work.”

The conversation came as it was observed that Hideo Kojima didn’t take part in the Xbox Showcase on the anniversary of the Xbox game announcement.

There is not much detail about the game and while some assumed it was Death stranding 2 (which ultimately was announced as a Playstation 5 bound), it is actually a modified version of the speculated episodic horror game that was offered originally to Google for Stadia and was rejected.