napkindoodle

Exactly that. This was my exact comment when I first heard of this rumor.
 
It makes sense to capitalize on the concept Fuji themselves started, that of the X100.  It also makes sense to use the existing "crop MF" Sony sensor, which has shown impressive low light performance among other things. Or, probably, use a more up to date incarnation of this chip, if available. Of course, using a latest X-Trans treatment on this sensor should furhter enhance its performance. We can also be confident on the lens performance, this being Fuji.
 
A compact MF will be unique but also much more desirable as a second system, for other system users. Nobody would invest in a system with costs running well over 10K for a body plus a modest lens selection. OTOH, if Fuji manages to sell a compact MF at price levels similar to the Leica Q, plus offer a couple of high quality focal length converters (see X100 again), I can see a variety of photographers being interested.
 
The (film) body GA645 format is superb, easily a better option for travel and documentary photography than any high end FF ILC or DSLR. But also having a leaf shutter, makes genres such as fashion and portraiture (using high sync speed flash), still life, etc, highly applicable.
 
Finally, from a more practical and realistic viewpoint, such an investment would be rather low-risk; at the very least I believe it would easily break even, while an all out assault with a system camera would take years to take off and would be very high risk, considering the very competitive market landscape (on high-end cameras) coming in the next few years.

^^^^ This
 
I bet it's possible to make a small, no frills MF travel camera with a sensor at least as big as the Pentax for 5 grand.

Shit yeah. An affordable medium format styled xpro would kill it 
 

They should definitely take inspiration from their GL690 interchangeable lens rangefinders from the 70s. But since a whole new lens mount maybe prohibitive, they should do the X100 route - start with a 35-40mm equivalent fixed lens, and then add adapters or two different versions (28mm equivalent & 40mm equivalent, like their GF670).
 
I LOVE the GF670 and also used their GA645zi before and it would make perfect sense to adapt one of those to the digital equivalent (45mm x 45mm format maybe?).

They should definitely take inspiration from their GL690 interchangeable lens rangefinders from the 70s. But since a whole new lens mount maybe prohibitive, they should do the X100 route - start with a 35-40mm equivalent fixed lens, and then add adapters or two different versions (28mm equivalent & 40mm equivalent, like their GF670).
 
I LOVE the GF670 and also used their GA645zi before and it would make perfect sense to adapt one of those to the digital equivalent (45mm x 45mm format maybe?).