Shortly after Microsoft stated they are looking into more acquisitions to compete against the likes of Sony and Tencent, a new rumor claims they’re looking to acquire Japanese publishers.

The new rumor comes from Imran Khan on the Giant Bombcast podcast (timestamped here), claiming the gaming giant is looking towards “major Japanese publishers” for targets to acquire.

According to his sources, Microsoft is “very clearly interested in some major Japanese publishers” along with “smaller studios”.

Further details as to any specific companies they have been in talks with weren’t shared, though. And while this remains to be rumor and speculation, it does fit in with Microsoft’s plans on bringing more original Japanese games to their Xbox platform.

Certain speculation by others lead them to believe that companies such as Sega or Platinum Games could be up. The former does have a “strategic alliance” with Microsoft after all. It’s even entirely possible that Kojima Productions could be another target as they’re currently set to launch an exclusive title on Xbox.

Their plans on winning the Japanese market seems to be on the right track. Their Xbox Series lineup has already outsold their last gen Xbox One, while some weeks they’ve even managed to occasionally outperform Sony and the PS5 in the country.

As such with acquisition news, their process of acquiring the gaming giant in Acitivision-Blizzard continues to move along despite recent setbacks.