Sony's struggles with the PlayStation 4 in parts of Asia are well documented, but TGS 2015 proved this week that the system's Japanese sales are sure to soar eventually. It'll now be turning its attention to China, then – a brave new world that seemed incredibly lucrative when a lengthy ban on dedicated gaming boxes was lifted in 2014.
That hasn't quite turned out to be the case, with group president Andrew House explaining that it hasn't seen "a rocket launch start". But what's the reason for this? "We are still challenged somewhat with a censorship regime that we have to work with," he told Reuters. "This can be time consuming."
Games that promote obscenity, drug use, and violence cannot officially be flogged in the country, while gambling and even negative representations of the nation will be blocked. Titles are vigorously checked, and even updates and add-ons must go through this rigorous approval process. In other words, it's a headache for everyone involved.
Of course, House is pointing to a problem that he can't control, but it's not the only issue that faces consoles in the colossus country. The price of the PS4 is steep, for example, while there's already a very prevalent grey market in the nation selling consoles and games for cheap. Furthermore, the region tends to have a preference for PC titles and smartphones.
As such, this will probably remain a tough nut for the Japanese giant to crack, but it's been so good at entering new markets that we're sure that it will stick with it. The company recently announced that it had sold one million PS4s in the Middle East, while smaller European countries remain a big target for it.
Whether it will ever breakthrough in China remains to be seen, but the rewards will probably make the effort worthwhile if it does.
[source reuters.com]
Comments 8
That title makes it sound like the PS4 is censoring itself. This is the issue I wish people would get their heads around, particularly with the seemingly increasing Japanese Vs Western games debate.
It's a different culture. The rules and expectations are different. If it works for you but not for them there is no point getting angry over it, just roll with it. And please, no more borderline insensitive comments. We're better than that. Just remember Sony is an Asian company.
@Volcanox This has nothing to do with Japanese vs. Western games. China doesn't let their citizens see anything that could be "harmful" to China. So even many violent/crude Japanese games can't be sold there. This has nothing to do with culture differences. It's about a tyrannical government (China) censoring its citizens to death.
Not much of a surprise considering how strict their censorship laws are there. It was only in 2015 that China lifted the ban on video game consoles.
So Nintendo will sell a lot in China...
But people are buying the games straight from Hong Kong too, where the games may or may not be censored. Depending on the game. Sometimes Hong Hong uses the Japanese version as a base, which sometimes have differences from the US/EU versions.
Lemme also remind you of that they have always been able to find consoles in China, just illegally. ( Surprisingly or unsurprisingly depending on who you ask, most people never actually knew they were not allowed tho ) And games, even tho sometimes pirated, were what they were supposed to be. 'Cuzz they were pirated, nobody had to check them. lol
The ban being lifted was still important tho. Perhaps they could sell SOME slightly more mature content to adults, and by "mature" I mean the kind of content you could see in games rated 12+ by Pegi over here in Europe. Yeah that means many AAA might not come out at all, or get heavily censored. But if you're Chinese you know how it goes. It's not like you could just easily move to another country either. It's better than having nothing and risk getting charged for crime. I'd love to see something like Kingdom Hearts coming out in China, or would that still be too violent? At least there's no realistic violence.
@Riririn Well for example, the Nightmare Before Christmas world in KH2 wouldn't be allowed in China because depictions of skulls are banned. This is on a whole other level than having to airbrush cleavage away on the cover for the US release.
@Matroska It's that bad? sigh Oh well at least Halloween Town wont be in KH3 or 2.8. That I know of anyways.
@Frank90
Hats off to Nintendo if it does find success in China. In fact I hope it does, and then I hope it takes the people who call the shots in China and relocates all of them to North America so NoA can finally get back on track.
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