China confirms foreign game consoles can now be sold

China is relaxing their once strict console ban in Shanghai's free zone.

[Zodiac]

What about game restrictions? It took this long to get the consoles, so there could be some pretty heavy content restrictions.

[PopRocks359]

With some luck, maybe those restrictions will be lifted at some point too.

[justastranger10]

Uhh this may seem unknown to many people, but China hates Japan. Period. Long bloody history between the two. MS will win china no contest.

[guitarded77]

If Australia has such heavy censorship, I don't expect China to lift many restrictions. They will probably require PSN, Live and Nintendo Network to have their own network center and servers in China and regulated by the government... like how they do with any major website. I'm happy for the people of China getting the chance to play some new/different games, but I wouldn't expect them to have a lot of options. They could give away all games for free through any of the networks, and I still wouldn't create a Chinese account. People fear Kinect 2 having access to see what you're doing, but in China that would be a legitimate concern (not that it's not legitimate elsewhere).

[Bereaver]

China has some pretty funny restrictions. Like.... they can't have skeletons in games.....

That's what took one WoW expansion such a long time.

Even in LoL. The items in the game haven't changed but once you reach the stats area where it shows kills/deaths/items bought, the items with the skulls are now different.

[Athonline]

@justastranger10

They do, but actually the rich people in China, love Japanese products as they have no trouble affording them (more than 1 million millionaires at China). I recall from my Uni days, we had lots of Chinese students, all them with a Nikon/ Canon dSLR, a Sony Vaio or an Apple Macbook and a Wii/PS3 as their console...

They like "in-fashion" stuff they know/ heard about. Nintendo and Playstation brand names are much stronger in Asian countries -thus a bigger "wow" factor.

[nosferatuzodd]

china would rather go with japan than America remember that youtube is allso banned over there and i remember when all the psvitas got gobbled up by people from main land china no one in hong kong could get one anywhere

[HammadTheBeast]

@justastranger

Wow. Now that is just ignorance lol. Yes, China and Japan haven't been on the best terms in the past, but you're basing your stuff off of something you probably remembered from some random article or textbook.

[gaffyh]

This story just reminded me of the "China Don't Care" t-shirt that Ryan Davis designed :(

[kreate]

China does have issues w japan yes. Japan is also not their ally.

Japan still believes part of china belongs to japan.

But asian culture is too similar.
Ps4 is more culturally comfortable while xbox is too foreign.

Try showing master chief and gears of war to a bunch of asians....
Than show ni no kuni, tales, final fantasy.

This is why japan is more important than u think. If u fail at japan, u pretty much failed in asia. Last time I heard, asians dominate the world in numbers. I wonder whose gonna pick up all those consumers.

Than on the other hand, chinese/asians love mickey mouse, iphones, american cars.

Except japan, they don't like american cars.

[MysticStrummer]

N4G better get ready for a meltdown if China puts 360 back on top of PS3 worldwide, which is definitely possible.

[nukeitall]

@justastranger10:

"Uhh this may seem unknown to many people, but China hates Japan. Period. Long bloody history between the two. MS will win china no contest."

It is the truth!

Disagree all you want, but facts are facts!

Chinese hates the Japanese, because of the invasion. Some of them old timers are still around.

That is why American cars are selling gangbusters in China, despite Japanese car being more reliable.

It's like going to Michigan and buying a Japanese car. They do exist, but there are ain't that many of them.

[ProjectVulcan]

This comes at a critical point in time, months before a new generation. The manufacturers will now be scrambling over themselves to sell their new consoles in the Chinese market officially.

Whoever wins China can dominate this generation. Of course consoles were sold before less than officially, but lifting this ban could define the next generation and help turn the tide of the industry.

[UltimateMaster]

Finally, they'll be able to buy legitimate consoles instead of clones....

[AzureskyZ]

@just you really dont know their culture all that well do you-- chinese suck up japanese products faster than crack addicts will to do an act to get some more crack. From japanese anime to japanese pc games sells extremely well. If i had to put money on i would say ps4 is gonna sell alot more unit than xbox on the simply fact that it will have more titles tailored to asian audience.

[cyclindk]

Well they didn't say anything about games being allowed, just the consoles.

[pixelsword]

Just consoles, no games.

[3-4-5]

They were already being sold:

As:

Jintendo, Zbox & Praystation

Good for worldwide sales though. I'm assuming this will boost Sony PS3 sales and maybe even PS2 sales once again.

[husomc]

it's good, if everyone is playing games there'll be no one to make the game consoles

[hollabox]

True but it's a step in the right direction considering what the policies were just a month ago.

[Zodiac]

Definitely a good step. I hope China plays nice with content restrictions. Gaming could definitely use another big market, or potentially great market to go with America,Europe, and japan.

[FlameHawk]

Only reason they uplifted the ban was because they couldn't successfully clone other consoles.

[hollabox]

I think China is looking at the bigger picture regarding potential import tax on consoles. Lets face it, the video game industry is big business and growing with Forbes reporting $67 Billion in revenue in 2012. Just about every one has played a video games in their life no matter what age, race, and sex. China is looking at their population being over 1 billion, which means about 300 million house holds as potential buyers.

[dcj0524]

Dang. Thats a lot of cash.

[Bhuahahaha]

you can actually buy lots of modified 360ps3/wii and psp/nds at gray markets (no they're not hidden its blatant over there)

[Bowzabub]

This is great news.

[weekev15]

Imagine they dont censor the game content. I just heard a collective "ka-ching" noise as the dollars and yen signs just rolled into the collective eye sockets of every console maker and game publisher out there.

[r21]

MS, Sony, Nintendo, untapped market ahoy!

[Bhuahahaha]

no its not untapped. chinesse gamers didnt even feel that consoles are banned there

http://kotaku.com/5883693/b...

[gamer42]

But does ms, sony, or nintendo make any revenue from the sales there, since it was technically not legal to sale consoles?

[hollabox]

I wonder if game companies get profit from grey market sales? I doubt sales are officially tracked, never seen official sales figures from China.

[Soldierone]

If I'm not mistaken, the sales would be a direct reflection of Hong Kong sales since it was legal there.

The only difference will be the sales will now reflect China, and maybe a slight increase but not much. I have close friends that go to China every summer and used to live there.

[joeorc]

@gamer42

"But does ms, sony, or nintendo make any revenue from the sales there, since it was technically not legal to sale consoles?"

well back in 2009

Sony Starts First Blu-Ray Replication Factory in China

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment on Tuesday opened up the first Blu-ray disc (BD) movie replication factory. The manufacturing facility will allow the company to sell Blu-ray content made in China inside the country, reducing manufacturing and fare costs and improving its own profitability.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/new...

[first1NFANTRY]

If anyone is gonna dominate that market it will be Sony or Nintendo.

[Bhuahahaha]

nope would be ms 360 and nintendo's ds/wii.
and 3rd ps3 ~reason ms and nintys console are more prone to modding and hacking. and pirated stuff is rampant over there

[vinniects]

The number one selling car brand in china is Buick. It's sad but china is probably more pro american when shopping then actually americans. I think Microsoft will be selling more than you would think.

[Bhuahahaha]

@gamer42
yes they do (ms,sony,nintendo)they get their shares in every console sold
the one that only didnt get a share is the government ~no tax on illegal things. but now china changing its stance they get a slice on the pie too.

[Bhuahahaha]

@gamer42
yes they do (ms,sony,nintendo)they get their shares in every console sold
the one that only didnt get their share is the government ~no tax on illegal things. but now china changing its stance they get a slice on the pie too.

[josephayal]

supreme victory for sony and nintendo

[GameCents]

Microsoft is the 5th most popular western brand in China, I'm sure they'll do okay there as well.

[stage88]

Just like how they're doing ok in Japan?

[GameCents]

Pretty sure I said China, did Japan and China become the same thing overnight?
Don't be small minded, they are two very different cultures.
Microsoft IS the 5th most popular brand in China, what's there to disagree or troll about?

[XabiDaChosenOne]

Well of course the would be the top 5 in western foriegn products but in foreign products overall? Not even top ten :-)
http://www.forbes.com/sites...

[sly-Famous]

I doubt it, being the fith most popular in a country with a population like China's isnt saying much. Im sure MS will do ok but no where near what Sony and Nintendo will.

[stage88]

Japan and China are more closely related than you think.

Just because MS is a popular choice mainly for its Operating System in China, it in no way suggests that MS will be the same or any more popular in their console department.

I don't know why I'm bothering writing this though as you been exposed as a fanboy troll on many occasions, so bye.

[Fireseed]

I'm actually curious to see which one they'll adapt to more.

[Dead_Cell]

Off-Topic but :

On a political note, the new Leadership Cabinet seems to have hit the ground running and is beginning to open up the population to a lot more freedoms than they were allowed before. It's still a strange party but a lot younger and seems to be far more concerned about the general populations than the last Leadership.

Good luck to them.

[AbortMission]

China is funny in many ways

[JohnJoakly]

I hope I don't see a COD world map. eXplode , with lights in china.

I hope I never see another CoD map again, for that matter.

[dcj0524]

Cod maps make ne have a headache because their so badly desinged.

[GameCents]

Then don't buy the games or read about them online. -____-

[avengers1978]

This could be huge for the console market, over a billion people, if a small percentage of them buy consoles it could still be 100 million in sales. It will be interesting to see witch they favor, and who( Sony, ms, or Nintendo) will market consoles there and put them in stores first

[Agent_hitman]

I believe China and Japan have a dispute now regarding island in yellow sea.. I don't think that china will support japanese consoles all the way. I think MS Xbone as a US console will become big in that region.

A real threat to Sony and Ninty.

[DrakenSilverwing]

from what i have read about sony's relations to china is that its pretty good and just getting better. you can look up some new articles online and all kinda relating to the island dispute, but it hasn't affected them much. so really as far as sony is concerned i'm sure they have a better chance then the other 3. microsoft has alot of problems with china and all the software pirates.

but anyways this is just what i have read elseware.

[NewZealander]

would suck to live in china :-)

[JackVagina]

oh wow, this is really big news

[RFornillos4]

ok, so from the gray market (which is pretty much everywhere really), it's now moved to the white market (which, again means pretty much everywhere)...

[CaptainN]

Nintendo has the best position to crack open this market as their games are family friendly and would get through all the censorship China has !

[hollabox]

I hate to agree with you but I think your right on this one. Now this is just the beginning, it shold be interesting to see how things change over the next 6 months. China has talented up and coming developers with NBA 2K games being developed in China(Whaaaat). UBIsoft has Chinese development studios as well, and The Last of Us art work and modeling were outsourced to China. So they do mature content, only a matter of time before they start selling mature content. With that said I think MS will be in the best position to take advantage of this country resources, a country with more millionaires, more people, and cheaper labor than the US and Japan.

[CaptainN]

How can people disagree with logic..fanboys these days..unreal !!!

[Neoprime]

Go China! :-)

[hiptanaka]

In other news, Sony shares skyrocket in after-hours trading.

[ironwolf]

Actually, Sony was down yesterday, and down again in overnight trading. Easy to check; takes about ten seconds.

[sigfredod]

Some billion people are very happy right now, and others relief that now will not be imprisioned for having one already, lol

[C0MPUT3R]

LMAO at people thinking Xbox will sell well in a non english speaking country.
.
PlayStation is a global brand.
.
Xbox is an Anglo-American brand.

[joeyisback]

PS4 PS3 PS2 will sell like hot cakes in China

[SoCalledMe]

But what about games .. this is good in a way cuz its a big market for consoles , but they are super restrictive when it comes to games , for example a lot of heroes in Dota 2 got a model reskin and even some icons for their abilities (spells) cuz they were considered too violent ( lets face it we are talking Dota 2 here , its not violent at all by West standards it has neat looking non violent art style) what if developers start focusing on that big market that China is and start shaping up bunch of stuff to please Chinas market needs ... they cant afford reskins , I mean dota 2 is a MOBA , the very BIG AAA games that look for as big market as they can wont be able to afford special facelifts just for China and may opt to focus on them from start ....

[Angeljuice]

They'll make their own games. Or rather produce thousands of cloned copies of each and every game thats successful in any market globally.

Give them a year or two and they'll have the 'FunTerminal Fowa', which will look a bit like a cheap facsimile of a PS4, but with the wrong angles , rounded corners and cheap super-shiney plastic casing.

The thing will be totally compatible with PlayStation 4 games and peripherals ( although everything will be really bugged), the Chinese courts will rule that it doesn't encroach on Sony's worldwide patents for some convoluted reason and they will sell in China for 1/3 the price of PS4.

Thats just a guess though, what do I know?

[joeorc]

back in jan:

key point

Sony, which recently stopped manufacturing PlayStation 2 for sale in some territories, could re-launch the console as a low-cost gaming device. Alternatively, Sony could heavily push older games via the PlayStation Store, the company’s online game outlet. Since most Chinese consumers have never played or seen them before, those games could prove to be gold for Sony. Nintendo could reap similar benefits.

It might be harder for Microsoft to benefit from past releases simply because it is the newer kid on the block. The original Xbox did not sell very well; according to VGChartz, that machine sold just under 25 million units worldwide. Thus, Microsoft would have to focus on the sale of more recent games and devices.

http://www.forbes.com/sites...

both the PS3 and the Wii could do very well there and the xbox360 in the market. but for the market as a whole this is a net + for all three companies

[PSN_ZeroOnyx]

China already ripped off the Wii with a Chinese version called the Wuu.

[DevilishSix]

Its a nice step for their citizens to enjoy this hobby. I welcome China to the modern world.

[JohnJ]

More revenue in the gaming industry, regardless of which company gets the loins share, is GOOD NEWS for gamers.

Competition in any industry usually results in greater innovation and rapid evolution of products. Remember it is thanks to your least favourite console and their fans that your favourite console will endeavour to reach the highest heights within the industry.

Lose the bitterness people, WE ARE ALL ON THE SIDE OF GREAT GAMING..

[bunfighterii]

Cracked consoles are already widely available in China. This wont be the boon for MS and Sony we may think. The average Chinese gamer won't be able to afford a console with $40-$60 games. Most young people don't make nearly enough to afford that. I can tell you from having lived there, if you want an Xbox/PS3 you can already fairly easily get one, and also you get them cracked and games are often under $2USD. The consoles themselves are expensive, but people won't buy them without the ability to but pirated games. Plus all the censorship will make official releases fairly light on.

[BABY-JEDI]

Expect some games with gigantic robotic pandas kicking the crap out of Japan. No offence to the Japanease, but china doesn't like you. However, if Sony does a game like this it will go straight to No. 1 in chinease market. My wife will buy it.

[dredgewalker]

There's already a giant robot named Panda Z in japan :)

[BABY-JEDI]

I bet that pandas well popular in china ; )

[PSN_ZeroOnyx]

Despite some political disputes between China and Japan, civilians in general have no issues between the 2 cultures. has anyone besides me ever known somebody from either country and actually asked questions? the general population does not hate each other. They can't understand much of each others spoken language but can read each others written word to a point. The French hate Americans more than the Chinese hate Japanese.

[BABY-JEDI]

This is a strange one. Much of chinease historic soaps focus on the Japanease invasion of china. Also, chinease government has quite a few land issues with Japan. This has been on going for several years. When such points flare up, chinease people generally don't buy Japanease goods. Point being. There is no direct hate fr Japan, but no real love either.

[Soplox]

This generation(PS3/Wii/Xbox360) is just getting started

[OC_MurphysLaw]

China could be a game changer... It will be interesting to see what kind of influence they have on the industry and the region.

[Deadpool616]

I agree. There's about 7 billion people in China. So there's billions of people waiting to get there hands on some consoles goodness.

Maybe some development studios will start emerging from China as well. It'll be interesting to see what happens the upcoming generation.

[Hazmat13]

not to make fun of china but will they ban BF4 due to it destroying certain parts of china and stuff?

[H3ADWOUND81]

They must have seen E3, not only do the developers want to work on the ps4, now china want to get in on the action.. That's the power of the playstation..

[Fistedcupps]

Good shit now the people of China can enjoy the games we all love.

[Dogswithguns]

They already been sold in China a long time ago, been year ago.. legally or not.

[My_Outer_Heaven]

Good for them!

[SmielmaN]

This is huge for game companies

[sAVAge_bEaST]

If the xboxone, doesn't do well in the U.S., there's always China, right boys!?, . Komies, love the Kinect.

[jairusmonillas]

just imagine the gaming life in china for the past few years. its stupid to ban it in the first place lol they think they can easily make a playstation and xbox from a chinese company but all they had were those silly look alike emulators like polystation that plays snes

[JeepGamer]

Well the technology will promptly be copied and stolen along with any and all software.

[STEWIE_PLAY_PS4]

Maybe this china fake any games sale?

[AWBrawler]

All I have to say is Animal Crossing + China = Huge Numbers!!!

[AWBrawler]

to my disagree, if you think CHINA won't like Animal Crossing, you are lying to yourself. All those cutesy animals and the ability to customize almost anything? those little chinese girls are going to eat that up.

Speaking of eating stuff up, i just remembered the chinese kids at my local chinese restaurant all own DSes and Pokemon, and one of them was playing Animal Crossing Wild World when i went in to order before. Yep, It's safe to say animal crossing will see a nice boost