Does China's console 180 actually benefit MS the most?

Could the tortured historical relationship between China and Japan actually benefit Microsoft? I would like to hope that that wouldn't sway Chinese gamers to avoid Sony and Nintendo, but is it possible that the Chinese distrust and disdain for the Japanese will help sell more MS consoles?

I am somewhat unsure.

Most consumers buy the cheapest they can get, and Sony could just make a chinese subcontractor to release thier consoles under a different brand like Nintendo does, and they will likely not feel too much backlash, not to mention the political and private views rarely line up completely.

MS on the otherhand has the more expensive console which is less featurerich outside the US (even in Europe so close to home the X1 has much less to offer compared to the US).

My guess would be that we saw a fairly big increase in PC gaming first and foremost, given that it has been a gray area for so long (but not exactly open and welcome) it would be the easiest and cheapest to get into, closely followed by the cheapest console which releases games which culturally resonates with the populace.

maybe they should highlight the past relations.

they can call the console the nankingdo.

I think Microsoft probably will.

Microsoft does have a much larger foothold in china already from things like Windows and Office that everyone knows and uses.

I think the gaming market in China will look a lot different than here. First of all, everyone games on PC and mobile (with tons of piracy). There is a good chance adoption of consoles will be very low.

Second, There is a good chance that the Chinese government will cripple both consoles severely in terms of features. It wouldn't surprise me to see China as the only place in the world that the Xbox One launches without kinect becuase it would be much easier than trying to make it comply with Chinese law.

My guess is that Microsoft and Sony will push the 360/PS3 more in China more than they will the PS4 and Xbox One. I think to break into the Chinese market, they will want something cheaper and more available.

The chinese are already accustomed to PC gaming. This console lift won't really change much for either side.

Given how little focus MS's marketing strategy seems to have on foreign markets, I kinda doubt it.

But who can afford them? If anything they'll probably play on PS2s until they learn to pirate them.

@lamprey263: You do know that CChina have an more middleclass people then the US right? China is NOT some piss poor country stuck in the dark ages, so yeah it IS a very big market.

Ever since consoles were banned there (now recently unbanned), China has become such a PC-centric market that it would be very difficult for any console manufacturer to crack it, whether Japanese (Sony/Nintendo) or American (Microsoft).

also for those expecting China to actively oppose all JP products, I've got news for you. Visual Novels are already in circulation there and have been so for quite some time.

Granted, they're mostly all pirated. But there is a demand.

Anyone know why there was a console ban to begin with?

Removing a ban for 1 billion people it will change something. It is a big deal. Sure PC gaming has a long tradition over there because of the console ban but it's still a huge market.

I don't think the most expensive console is going to be the most successful though. That and whichever is going to get hacked first.

that may be true but there's different factors in deeming some people middle class, income levels in China's middle class don't equate to those in US, and what kind of purchasing power that bracket brings might not also be the same, and gaming consoles tend to be more costly outside their primary target markets... still, sure, I guess it is to rush to judgement to deny the benefit of capturing the interests of a nation of over a billion, I've felt that way prior with India with regards to making Bollywood themed Dance Central games

but I guess I'm still off TC's main point, which was does the Xbox brand seem more attractive than the competing Japanese products... tough to say, though I do know there's a lot of bad blood there, especially with the large scale Nanking and Unit 731 denialism that's rampant in Japan, maybe that could indeed give MS an edge

Their cost of living is way WAY less expensive than in the US. So, as far as disposable income is concerned, they are relatively similar.

There are more middle-class Chinese than the entire population of the United States, by the way.

Did the Mexican and American war sway the Mexicans not to buy Xbox 360?

It won't change anything. Chinese just like the koreans prefer PC gaming. Too many lemmings are grasping onto this last hope.

Not just lemmings no. Sony, MS and Nintendo think this is nothing else but good news. Yes I know they prefer PC gaming, because they had no other choice. Is way too big of a market to just ignore it.

The Chinese have no problem with Japanese products, in fact they would often prefer foreign products for quality/status.

However, I highly doubt that people there would buy consoles due to the domination of PC gaming. Those who do won't buy software either due to heavy piracy,

They may buy the hardware, but good luck seeing a single legitimate copy of console software being sold in China.

@incuensuocha: No, people are over that.

Xbone will come off as too American for China.

Um no? Ps3, 360, and wii is available in every small gaming store in china. The Chinese chose to go with pc gaming, because it's a better gaming platform to them. The console ban wasn't even enforce, i just found out last week that console was ban in china, I lived in China in 2011 and seen ps3, 360 and wii being sold in small gaming store.

@Telekill: while not sure it is the only reason, or even IS a reason onto itself, the ban often got cited for being to "protect the Young minds from being distracted from the important Things in life" (a nice way to say that youths Waste their life on games) or something along those lines.

I am fairly sure that it had Little real reson to why it got banned, although we have seenexamples of far Eastern being way too absorbed in a game the later years.

My guess is that the original excuse was to create a closed walled garden in China (given how chinese games were ok to play for some arbitraty reason despite the "games are bad" comments the Chinese goverment threw out Again and Again.

Both consoles are Chinese so i don't think they will care much,the only Japanese part about the PS4 is the Sony name,same with the xbox one.

I wouldn't go that far, either. For instance, Chevrolet is the fastest selling brand of car in China.

For every Game console sold, China economy becomes stronger.

@Telekill: If i had to take a crack at it... it was probably so people won't invest money on foreign electronics and i did read once that china was launching it's own gaming console.

no. lol.

There isn't a single SEA territory that Microsoft's consoles outperform Sony consoles. China certainly won't be an exception given the console's higher price. Not to mention many of the primary features (voice chat, tv control) won't be available for use in these regions anytime soon.

Funny thread is funny. Then again, most SW threads are poorly thought out.

wow.

@Telekill: Chinese officials were worried about violent content and the potential for moral decay. http://money.cnn.com/2014/01/08/technology/china-video-games/

The lift of the ban is great news, but expect the government to censor or ban games for violence/sexual content, anything that promotes democracy or that they consider a threat to national security.

With the recent article about China imposing laws on "hostile" games, I think Nintendo might be best off in the market, depending on how stict they are with the term "hostile". A lot of shooters could end up being banned in China, where as NIntendo's family friendly IP's will make it safely through the door. Also, the Chinese population is on the poor side, so given that Nintendo has the cheapest console, this will also be beneficial.

In the end, I think it's simply who has the balls to really push into the Chinese market and advertise.

China is not the biggest fan of the US either. So saying MS will do better due to the fact they don't like Japan does not fly with me. Also the xbox one is 500 bucks thats way to much for the Chinese market. Most people play cheap games or pirate everything in China. Also as far as i know the ban is only for certain areas in China like shanghais economic zone not the entire nation.

Were handhelds under the ban as well? Because if anything, I would see the handheld market (3DS/Vita) taking off much faster than say the consoles.

You know employees aren't paid very much in China...right? Cost matters.

check it out guys

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2013-11/13/content_17101307.htm

"Shanghai is tops in urban disposable income among 31 provinces on the Chinese mainlandwith 40,188 yuan ($6,550) a year, research shows."

6 and a half grand of disposable income per year. per month this is a ps4 or xbox one every month. if i were microsoft or sony i would be willing to take a bigger loss on each console sold in china in order to aggressively get market penetration.

i would pay attention to the chinese market.

Do you really think even if they did sell the consoles that the online part would even work?

The great firewall will totally break the online portion of the consoles, unless one of the companies sets their server up in China. Also what types of games do the Chinese like? They might prefer the Japanese titles.

But whats stopping a Chinese console coming out? There might even be another player entering the market by the time next next next gen comes along :).

Actually, there won't be much of a difference. The last gen consoles were readily available there throughout the gen and that too in abundance in grey markets. If anyone wanted a ps3 or xbox 360 or wii, one could easily get it. Its not like they have been aloof to the console gaming due to the ban,

That won't work. Not at all. I am an indian gamer and live in india. Trust me on this. India has a very small gaming community as compared to the likes of europe and usa but it is a dedicated and hardcore community. Its not like the community is aloof and doesn't know a shit about gaming and a bollywood game comes and they would lap it up. There won't be a demand for such kind of game at all.

The gaming community is small in india but its smart, dedicated and hardcore.

Microsoft might as well take a big loss on each console sold in Japan. While they're at it. They along with Nintendo and Sony should also try to penetrate the South Korean Market. I heard the South Koreans had no choice but to game on PC, because the North Korean leader kim jung un threaten to nuke South Korea if they support non-korea product.

Well, I was the one that wanted the Bollywood themed Dance Central game :( I just use the justification of India's population as an excuse to get it made, and I consider myself hardcore gamer, but I also love casual games as well, I don't let the label limit my enjoyment of different types of games, dance games are fun despite people thinking they're casual shovelware.

But I can accept the community of self describing hardcore gamers wouldn't touch this, but do you also not think such "casual" kind of games have an ability to grow within the Indian market by creating a casual gaming crowd?

Its not purely about casual and hardcore gaming. This kind of game may garner some new gamers in india but that would depend of the publicity that they put in and the amount of hype they would create for it.

What i am saying is that in order for such kind of a game to succeed, they would need to create a new gaming market as the present one won't really take this game whole heart-idly. Its not that they think of themselves as elite gamers or anything like that, its just that this kind of a game has not really been successful and i don't see the demand for it among the current gamers here. Ps3 is the most popular console here from last gen if you talk about legit ones and not modded ones and ps4 gonna be the one for this gen as well. Kinect hasn't really caught among the community here that much so i doubt the demand would be there among the current lot of gamers.

alot of chinese people have tiny houses so they won't even be able to use kinect because they won't have enough room

some american readers just commit suicide after reading your post

@narutosup: yes south korea, i agree with you there. very good points mate.

as for north/south korea im not sure. starcraft was made by blizzard, an american company.

I am guessing that you didn't read my whole post.

"My guess is that Microsoft and Sony will push the 360/PS3 more in China more than they will the PS4 and Xbox One. I think to break into the Chinese market, they will want something cheaper and more available."

Definitely - I was in china recently and there was an ongoing dispute regarding china and japan over some islands off the coast of china. At one stage a massive mob of chinese went through the highway flipping any japanese made cars (mitsubishis ect,) and bashing the panels up. It was crazy. That being said i did see a few sony stores.

I don't see that being a good market for MSFt. It'll be good for Sony and Nintendo, but the One is too feature poor for that market for it's asking price.

If anything, I could see USA and China becoming arch enemies when World War 3 eventually happens.

Imagine asking people living under an authoritarian government to buy a console that has an always-on always-listening camera to be put in their living rooms. Yeah, nah.

Yes Chinese love to pay for MS product.