Sony has plans to enter the newly opened Chinese gaming console market in collaboration with a Shanghai firm.
Sony, the electronics giant, is making a foray in the newly opened Chinese consoles market to expand its fast growing sales of PlayStation. Sony has partnered with Shanghai Oriental Pearl Group Co Ltd, the city's popular tourism and cultural firm, to set up two joint ventures in the free trade zone in Shanghai.
China has lifted its 14-year-long ban on foreign gaming consoles. The ban was to protect the country's youth from the negative influence of games that were deemed violent, obscene and politically sensitive. But the ban was lifted when China's State Council established the first free trade test area in the country's largest and most populous city in September last year and formally authorized the domestic sales of foreign-made gaming consoles in its FTZ.
Sony plans two ventures with the pearl Group and will own a maximum stake of 70 percent in one venture and 49 percent stake in the other, GameSpot reveals. One of the setups will be used to directly offer Sony's gaming consoles to around 500 million gamers of the country and the other setup will handle software and services, according to a stock exchange filing by the Shanghai Oriental Pearl Monday, Reuters reports.
While Sony's push to the new market for its best selling gaming consoles is considered to be a sensible move, its biggest rival Microsoft jumped right at the first chance to attract the consumers. The Redmond-based software company revealed plans to start offering its Xbox One in China's FTZ starting September. As for Sony, details on the release date of its gaming consoles remain scarce.
With Sony and Microsoft already marching toward the newly opened market, Nintendo's plans of foraging in to the Chinese gaming market remain unclear.
Sony is on the profiting end as far its latest console is concerned. The Japanese tech giant has already surpassed seven million units of PlayStation 4 in the U.S. and other markets. The console is available in 72 countries worldwide and expanding sales to China will only add to the growing number of PS4 sales, provided the company launches the console sooner than its rival.
