The Console Industry in China *spawn*
- Thread starter Cyan
- Start date
Curious move seeing as the official release of the consoles in China completely bombed (given a lack of reports of their success). I guess it's a matter of plodding on for the long-term future.
Silent_Buddha
Legend
Yeah, it's definitely curious, but I can kind of see where they might be going with this.
PC gaming is extremely popular in China, even more than mobile gaming (although mobile gaming is growing faster than PC gaming currently). I could see Microsoft trying to woo some of the Chinese PC developers to get them to release versions of their games for UWP. If they can do that, then those games could potentially be available on Project Scorpio. XBO wouldn't necessarily need to be supported in China for local market games that aren't going to leave the market, although I'm sure Microsoft would like to have the games support XBO as well.
So, that could just be just be Microsoft attempting to leverage UWP on console to not only gain console penetration in the Chinese market, but to leverage UWP to pry digital download sales from Steam and Tencent in China. Basically make Xbox a cheaper alternative to PC for playing Chinese PC games while making the same game available on PC though their own storefront.
If that isn't the plan, then I don't see how they expect Project Scorpio to succeed where XBO and consoles in general didn't.
Regards,
SB
Good points. Also, whether big selling or not, consoles are selling which means it's a growing market. If MS don't support China, they'll never have any chance of ever selling strongly there. So they have to give it a go, and keep giving it a go in case console gaming becomes big.
Agreed. Seems like a good back door into Asia. Nintendo isn't there. Sony doesn't have the whole market in China either. Competition there is significantly different than in Japan.
If MS can manage to make large inroads there (significantly easier and cheaper than attempting Japan considering their history with trying) if the customer base becomes large enough it may convince Japanese developers that the market is large enough for their titles to begin shipping to XBox.
And thus would be a big win for the larger Xbox population.
MS would likely be pursuing Chinese game developers. This would have to be their main strategy. I've seen some Chinese games and a handful stuck out for me, like Candleman. id like to see more games, they appear to have a large selection of F2P games.
I can't see Scorpio succeeding where Xbox One failed given all the same roadblocks exist:
- the massive amount of videogame censorship going on, where every game has to go through a lengthy approval processes before being approved.
- the greatfirewall preventing chinese from playing anyone other than the miniscule Xbox Chinese userbase for multiplayer games.
-Multiplayer games are overwhelmingly the most popular form of gaming, not single player games.
- the absence of the most popular chinese PC games or any of the most popular popular games (from any platform) for that matter on the system
- the fact most of the popular chinese games are F2P, of which Xbox One has very few, and not the popular chinese ones either.
- lack of mindshare of Xbox or its software brands among chinese gamers, particularly compared to PC
- PC gaming being mind bogglingly more popular than consoles in China
- Cybercafes are where a large portion of chinese game
- the massive amount of videogame censorship going on, where every game has to go through a lengthy approval processes before being approved.
- the greatfirewall preventing chinese from playing anyone other than the miniscule Xbox Chinese userbase for multiplayer games.
-Multiplayer games are overwhelmingly the most popular form of gaming, not single player games.
- the absence of the most popular chinese PC games or any of the most popular popular games (from any platform) for that matter on the system
- the fact most of the popular chinese games are F2P, of which Xbox One has very few, and not the popular chinese ones either.
- lack of mindshare of Xbox or its software brands among chinese gamers, particularly compared to PC
- PC gaming being mind bogglingly more popular than consoles in China
- Cybercafes are where a large portion of chinese game
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Deleted member 11852
Guest
Censorship is the big one. As somebody who travels to China frequently, there are plenty of movies and books I will not take or even have accessible on my media. It's just not worth the risk of breaking a prohibition.
I have been to China multiple times and I never felt any danger in bringing books or other media with me. As long as you do not bring books/media concerning the party's elite (and porn) I think you should be perfectly fine.
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Deleted member 11852
Guest
Why? I can understand that it's important for fanboys but what does this get Microsoft exactly?
I can only assume you've never had a random search at Shanghai (Pudong) or Beijing? As somebody who works for Government I get a lot of 'random' searches in these international airports. You're fine if you're not being searched.
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What would happen if they search you and they find some media that is not sold in China? I do not think they would care, but maybe you have other experiences?
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Deleted member 11852
Guest
First offence is generally confiscation of said media/device. Second offence is prison. You get a second chance because you're a foreigner. Chinese nationals do not enjoy that learning experience.
So piracy is not still a big thing in China?
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Deleted member 11852
Guest
What's piracy got to do with Chines cultural prohibitions?
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Deleted member 11852
Guest
I never said what you quoted. Ignoring that, that's not the problem because the black market is huge in China. The problem is getting caught bringing in culturally prohibited material. I said I avoided bringing in media when I visit and that's because of the risk of getting caught bringing in media including subjects which are culturally prohibited. This is greater for me than others because of where I work - as I said.
The Chinese authorities officially ban very little media content these days. But they don't have too; the risk of being found in possession of said media is generally sufficient to drive it underground but the black market is not a viable markets for console manufacturers in a country which has zero regard for basic human rights.
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Deleted member 11852
Guest
First and foremost there is the GFW, second China heavily regulates the use of VPNs and made legislative changes earlier this year that effectively bans unregulated use of VPNs. You want to take a risk of using a VPN in a country where 'legal rights' exist only a principle and aren't enshrined in law and where you can be imprisoned without charge indefinitely? Sure. You go right ahead.
How long has China been a part of the West?
