Ex PlayStation chief says Xbox needs to expand in Japan

A former PlayStation executive has Japan "needs Xbox to expand" in the region.

Mena Kato helped build Sony's gaming division into a major player in the industry before leaving to work for Microsoft in July this year and - despite Xbox enjoying a strong presence in the country due to their subscription model 'Game Pass' and acquiring 'World of Warcraft' creative studio Activision Blizzard for an eye-watering $69 billion - he noted the company is struggling to compete with Sony and Nintendo.

Noting it would have mutual benefits, she told Bloomberg: "Japanese publishers will definitely need us in expanding their business. It would be difficult to do that just with the PlayStation.

"We face a challenge and that means there are still a lot of things we can and should change."

Since the introduction of Microsoft's latest consoles, the Xbox Series X|S, the company has found it difficult to compete against their rivals.

According to Bloomberg, the company has only managed to sell around 500,000 units, compared to Nintendo's 31 million Switch sales and Sony's 4.8 million PlayStation 5 purchases.

Although the sales figure is alarming, Xbox is still believed to be a huge player in the market.

UBS Securities analyst Kenji Fukuyama said: "Microsoft offers huge scalability to Japanese publishers as there’s virtually no country without Windows PCs.

"When it comes to access to game fans in emerging countries, Sony and Nintendo just can’t compete with Xbox."