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The Xbox unit, led by Phil Spencer, has been stepping up its foray into the world’s third-largest economy, with the executive in September saying players can expect top-tier Japanese titles as Xbox exclusives in the future. His company has lagged mainstays Sony and Nintendo, but Kato brings the local experience and connections that it has long coveted. The executive said she was approached by Microsoft several times before she finally agreed to join.
Kato immediately becomes one of Microsoft’s highest-profile Xbox executives in Japan, and her main role will be to steer dialogue with local creators and spearhead new initiatives. She said she took on the job because she wanted to better bridge the gap between Japan and the rest of the world. She’s working alongside Xbox President Sarah Bond, one of a number of senior female executives at Microsoft, which Kato said “was a surprise that made me happy when I joined the company.”
Among her duties, Kato is having daily conversations with local game studios and ferrying feedback to Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Washington, about topics as basic as developer documentation translation or as large-scale as global promotional campaigns to boost new titles.
Kato doesn’t expect negotiations with partners to be easy and anticipates there’ll be plenty of adaptation required for Microsoft to increase its relevance in Japan’s games industry.
“We face a challenge and that means there are still a lot of things we can and should change,” she said.
