Manufacturers had to sell and produce consoles within Shanghai’s free-trade zone in order to then be able to sell these consoles across China in general. There wasn’t really a chance for companies like Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft to take advantage of potential sales in the largest country in the world due to this tiny area’s constraints.
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China is lifting its nationwide ban on video game consoles, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Some Chinese video game fans are still able to get their hands on them through black market sales and piracy. With the new rules, however, foreign console makers will no longer be limited to just one region and banned from the rest of the country.
This latest development allows for console sales outside the Shanghai Free Trade Zone – in other words, throughout China – which makes it easier for Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony to move their products in a market populated by more than 1.3 billion people.
For more than a decade, gaming companies faced all sorts of restrictions that severely limited access to the Chinese market.
China had a longstanding ban on the sale of consoles since 2000, when the Ministry of Culture issued a discover banning the sale of digital gaming units or gear on its nation.
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“This is great news for us”, a Sony Computer Entertainment spokeswoman said, adding that the company remains committed to the console business in China. A pilot test conducted last year saw some restrictions loosened up, and the Ministry of Culture now acknowledges that the test was successful.
