China to finally end 13 year ban on game consoles.

Soldier Gryphon

Soldier Gryphon

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Sep 11, 2013
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http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-09-27-china-to-end-decade-long-ban-on-game-consoles

The WSJ says console sales will happen as part of a new free-trade zone in Shanghai
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, China will finally allow sales of game consoles after more than ten years of banning the hardware. During that time, consoles were typically sold on the black market but consumers in general have shown a preference for PCs and smartphones.
Seven government ministries originally agreed to ban consoles back in 2000. The group voiced concern for the effect games might have on young people; that same group, however, helped gaming on computers in Internet cafes take off across China.
Consoles will soon be sold as part of a new set of rules issued Friday for a new free-trade zone in Shanghai. While an exact timeline for when consoles will go on sale hasn't been stated, China's highest decision-making body, the State Council, has specified that foreign companies that operate sales and production within the new trade zone will be allowed to sell their products across China, pending approval of each device by the Ministry of Culture.
Platform holders, anticipating the move, are clearly looking to take advantage. Earlier this week, Microsoft made a splash when it announced a partnership with media company BesTV New Media Co., Ltd to bring a new gaming console and streaming device to China. Unconfirmed reports suggested that the device would be based on the Xbox but be labeled the Bestpad.
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Still sounds like a lot of restrictions are involved, but great news.
 
SevenDead1ySinz said:
I would actually say less $$$, the consoles are manufactured/assembled in China, they will just clone them into knockoffs and sell em for profits, MS/Sony won't see a dime
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I haven't seen that in China except for NES knockoffs that are still available in supermarkets.
They have fake s*** that looks like a PSP or a Wii, but they don't play real games.
Actual PSPs and Wiis imported from overseas on the other hand are pretty popular, but they are always playing pirated software.
 
SevenDead1ySinz said:
I would actually say less $$$, the consoles are manufactured/assembled in China, they will just clone them into knockoffs and sell em for profits, MS/Sony won't see a dime
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Li Tan said:
I haven't seen that in China except for NES knockoffs.
They have fake s*** that looks like a PSP or a Wii, but they don't play real games.
Actual PSPs and Wiis on the other hand are pretty popular, but they are always playing pirated software.
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These two posts sum up what this will end as...Piracy beyond the likes of which we have never seen.
 
For sure the pirates will outnumber the legitimate users by a significant proportion, but there are a few things to consider:

1.) All the consoles are already readily available in China. Sometimes more easily available than overseas (during the Wii shortage it wasn't hard to pick one up here). There's a shop selling them on every block. The prices are usually reasonably close to the international price point, too. These shops do sell real, legal games as well. (My local shop has a TON of legal copies of GTAV) So a legal presence for hardware sellers isn't going to suddenly usher in a new age of console gaming and piracy.

2.) Online gaming, digital downloads and DLC are a big part of modern consoles. People who want to participate in these online activities are going to have to play by the rules. I know that it's already happening, as I and other friends buy legal games, but of course I have no idea what level it occurs on.

3.) Even if pirates outnumber legitimate gamers 100:1, we're still talking about a population of 1.3 billion. If 1% of the population was console gamers, that's 130 million people. If 1% of those gamers were legitimate purchasers, that's 13 million paying customers. If the hardware makers can be bothered selling in Australia where the whole population, gamer or otherwise is barely 20 million, then why not China?

That being said, the console makers will decide for themselves whether it's worth it. Either way, their machines are being sold and played here, so the decision is really whether they want to ignore it, or try to steer it in a direction that could turn a profit for them in the future. If they can sell the machines without losing money, then any paying customer in any market is viable, really.
 
It's gonna be interesting to see. Here's hoping we see some Chinese devs make a big splash on the console scene now that this is available. Only one I'm really aware of is Spicy Horse (Alice: Madness Returns) and branches underneath big companies.
 
This is bad. The last thing I want to hear when playing CoD is "Rong rive Xi Jinping!"
 
sharkboy1200 said:
It's gonna be interesting to see. Here's hoping we see some Chinese devs make a big splash on the console scene now that this is available. Only one I'm really aware of is Spicy Horse (Alice: Madness Returns) and branches underneath big companies.
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I don't think there's going to be too many Chinese devs come out of the blue with some top notch stuff. But I wouldn't be surprised to see studios like Ubisoft Shanghai or EA Shanghai and those kind of big publishers local teams doing decent stuff. They usually still have a lot of foreign people working there to help them get up to more international standards. I think there's not a lot of innovation going on, even though there might be people with plenty of technical ability, the creativity and the confidence to be creative needs more cultivation.

I think we'll see more surprise hits coming out of Eastern Europe or S. Korea before China.

Freezasaurus said:
Dynasty Warriors is going to sell gangbusters in China.
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Although the source material is popular in China, it's not as big as it is in Japan. Chinese people love online gaming, and they have fairly western tastes. WoW, Counter Strike, LoL do really well.
 
Li Tan said:
For sure the pirates will outnumber the legitimate users by a significant proportion, but there are a few things to consider:

1.) All the consoles are already readily available in China. Sometimes more easily available than overseas (during the Wii shortage it wasn't hard to pick one up here). There's a shop selling them on every block. The prices are usually reasonably close to the international price point, too. These shops do sell real, legal games as well. (My local shop has a TON of legal copies of GTAV) So a legal presence for hardware sellers isn't going to suddenly usher in a new age of console gaming and piracy.

2.) Online gaming, digital downloads and DLC are a big part of modern consoles. People who want to participate in these online activities are going to have to play by the rules. I know that it's already happening, as I and other friends buy legal games, but of course I have no idea what level it occurs on.

3.) Even if pirates outnumber legitimate gamers 100:1, we're still talking about a population of 1.3 billion. If 1% of the population was console gamers, that's 130 million people. If 1% of those gamers were legitimate purchasers, that's 13 million paying customers. If the hardware makers can be bothered selling in Australia where the whole population, gamer or otherwise is barely 20 million, then why not China?

That being said, the console makers will decide for themselves whether it's worth it. Either way, their machines are being sold and played here, so the decision is really whether they want to ignore it, or try to steer it in a direction that could turn a profit for them in the future. If they can sell the machines without losing money, then any paying customer in any market is viable, really.
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1.3 Million is 1%.
 
Li Tan said:
3.) Even if pirates outnumber legitimate gamers 100:1, we're still talking about a population of 1.3 billion. If 1% of the population was console gamers, that's 130 million people. If 1% of those gamers were legitimate purchasers, that's 13 million paying customers. If the hardware makers can be bothered selling in Australia where the whole population, gamer or otherwise is barely 20 million, then why not China?
Click to expand...

Ape Still Rules said:
1.3 Million is 1%.
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1% of 1.3 billion is 13 million then,
1% of 13 million is 130,000
But if you meant 10% that would work though 100:1 is not 1%, that would be 99:1.

;)
 
@Intellivision, mathematics has never been my strong point and I was just writing that as I went, rather than doing any homework for it.

OK, another edit, after re-reading, I get what Ape is saying. I thought he was saying 1% of 1.3b.
So yes, in my very ungenerous scenario, the final number of legitimate, paying consumers would be 1.3 million. Which is still probably more than many nations where hardware manufacturers DO localize, market and sell games, such as Hong Kong, Australia, Singapore, New Zealand, Ireland etc.
 
You @Li Tan said :

If 1% of the population was console gamers, that's 130 million people. If 1% of those (130 million) gamers were legitimate purchasers, that's 13 million paying customers.

1% of 130 million is 1.3 million.
 
Yeah, you're absolutely right.
I got confused by the brevity of your first response and Intellivision going a further 1% past that. I edited my post above.
 
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