China's State Council has now decided to lift its 13-year ban on the sale of video game consoles in the country. Video game consoles like the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 4 will now be sold across the country as long as the foreign companies establish sales and production operations in Shanghai's new free trade zone.
This means that the theater for the console war will change dramatically as Sony and Microsoft battle it out in the West as well as in China for supremacy as the top console maker in the world. The news comes just before the November releases of both the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4.
Now Microsoft and Sony will just need to establish sales and production in Shanghai's free trade zone. According to ITProportal this won't be difficult as the country already has a similar free trade zone in Shenzhen. After all, video game consoles were not banned in the country for any reason having to do with production. The country's officials determined that video games diminished or stunted the development of its youth.
It's important to note that Chinese citizens still had access to videogames through PC and mobile devices, as well as a black market of console trade. This means that the introduction of next-generation consoles won't be as huge of a culture shock as it could be.
The hope from the Chinese government is that the sale of videogame consoles will stimulate growth of its new free trade zone. This will likely have a huge impact on the sales of the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. However, this probably won't affect opening day sales of either console as the policies in China are rolling out over the next three years. This means both Microsoft and Sony likely won't see a profit from this new market for a couple years at least. However, depending on how successful the new market is, users might see games that appeal to the Chinese market over the more westernized U.S. market.
