China Knocks Down Final Remnants of Nationwide Ban on Foreign Game Consoles

xbox one china 07-28-15-1

Pictured: Yusuf Mehdi, head of marketing and strategy for Microsoft’s Xbox group, during a talk at ChinaJoy 2014

While China start to open the floodgates towards selling foreign video game consoles last January by ending their decade-plus ban, a new report (via the WSJ) has confirmed the Chinese government has completely lifted the ban, nationwide.


The statement released from the country’s Ministry of Culture lifted the restriction, which previously was only open to the Shanghai free trade zone, but now we’ve seen that open to the entire country. This means companies are now able to operate and sell foreign game consoles nationwide.

dynasty warriors 8 07-28-15-1

Despite this final restriction being gone, Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo are still at the behest of the Ministry of Culture, and must see each individual console inspected. Coming from this, any games released for said consoles must be inspected, to make sure they’re deemed culturally appropriate for sale in China.

It remains to be seen if the full embrace of foreign video game consoles will make a difference, however, as the majority of gamers in mainland China have been thriving on both PC and mobile games. Sales from both the Playstation 4 and Xbox One in China have reportedly been disappointing, but we’ll see how this new milestone fares with both consoles.

dynasty warriors 8 07-28-15-1

Featured Image: Guan Yu, of Three Kingdoms Era China, and Dynasty Warriors (Editor’s Note: He’s also the coolest hero in Three Kingdoms-era China)

, , ,

About

Owner and Publisher at Niche Gamer and Nicchiban. Outlaw fighting for a better game industry.


Where'd our comments go? Subscribe to become a member to get commenting access and true free speech!