The purpose of the interview, though, was to discuss the 20th anniversary of the Xbox and its history. With Microsoft openly on the hunt for new studios it can buy to make exclusives for its consoles, Itagaki was asked what he would say if Microsoft approached his studio and Itagaki very much implies that he’d not only be open to working with the company, but with Itagaki Games being bought out.
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As he said, Itagaki already has a strong relationship with Microsoft thanks to his tenure at Tecmo. Dead or Alive 3 and 4 were an Xbox and Xbox 360 exclusive respectively and the first two Ninja Gaiden games he directed were Xbox exclusives too, though they were later ported to PlayStation consoles.
Despite Itagaki’s statement, it’s obviously far too early to tell whether Microsoft will approach him. While having a Japanese studio under its belt could help improve Microsoft’s standing in Japan, a country where it has always struggled financially (the PlayStation 5 sold five times more than the Xbox Series X/S did), Itagaki Games is still fresh and hasn’t released any games.
Itagaki did state that he opened the studio so he could re-enter game development, but there is no news on what new game he’s working on or if he’s even started. On top of that, there’s no guarantee that his next game will be successful enough to warrant Microsoft’s interest in acquiring the studio.
The last game Itagaki directed, Devil’s Third, went through a troubled development and was met with negative reviews when it released as a Wii U exclusive in 2015. It’s currently still the only game released by Valhalla Game Studios, which Itagaki also helped founded and later stepped down from.
As for the Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden series, there have been no formal announcements for new entries. There have been rumors of a Ninja Gaiden Sigma Trilogy re-release due this year, which would ironically release for the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch, but not the Xbox One.
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Source: Facebook
