Microsoft Corp put more firepower in the arsenal of its new Xbox videogame console with 11 game titles to be created by Japanese software developer Sega Corp for its autumn launch, according to chairman Mr Bill Gates.
"People didn't know how committed we were for the Japanese market... We've got the Japanese market full-speed ahead on the Xbox," Mr Gates claimed. "There's no way to get in small."
The deal is a huge boost to Japanese software maker Sega's new focus on game development.
Plus, it will give the Xbox a much-needed array of 15 to 20 game titles when it hits shelves this autumn in Japan and the US.
That will help to determine whether the Xbox, which Microsoft hopes will give it a new growth opportunity in interactive entertainment, will be able to compete effectively against established competitors such as Sony Corp's PlayStation 2.
Sega, which abandoned the game machine market last month due to poor sales of its Dreamcast console and shifted its focus to its healthier software business, saw its shares jump in reaction to the news.
They leapt 5.02 per cent before closing 3.2 percent higher at 2,260 yen, outpacing a 0.56 per cent fall in the Nikkei 225 index.