Xbox 360 en route to China?

  • By Staff, GameSpot
  • Posted Jan 16, 2007 12:32 pm PT

Reuters says it is but won't say when it's due, nor reveal sources behind the claim. Web sites pile on the speculation.

Reuters today made headlines of its own when it published a story on the Xbox 360 making its way to the Chinese market. Basing its story on a source that refused to be identified, the article generated nearly a hundred secondary news stories. The source told Reuters that Microsoft "definitely hopes" to launch its Xbox 360 in China "as soon as it can." The source claims Microsoft has been "talking to a wide range of potential sales agents, getting feedback from game testers and experimental users, and doing everything they can with the sole aim of launching Xbox in China as soon as possible." The Chinese market is notoriously tough to crack--for game publishers as well as hardware makers. Snow-bound staffers at Microsoft had no comment on the unattributed story at press time.

61 Comments

  • mjwickstrom1

    Posted Jan 25, 2007 4:05 am PT

    That's cool that the 360 may become even more of a worldwide seller!

  • Kravyn81

    Posted Jan 17, 2007 3:33 pm PT

    Good. With the population of China alone MS could trump both Sony and Nintendo

  • Riverwolf007

    Posted Jan 17, 2007 1:20 pm PT

    Oh Boy, A chance to get to know our future overlords on XBL before they crush our economies and wash over the earth like a tidal wave.

  • HaaZ

    Posted Jan 17, 2007 11:59 am PT

    "the_real_VIP - ... here it can easily be brought down by a vote of no-confidence."
    You'll have to explain this "vote of no-confidence" that nullifies the US Constitution and terminates the existance of the present US government.
    Credibility? Your fabricating law while questioning someone's knowledge of politics. This isn't your "Gamespot Cred". This is proof your college professors need their credentials re-evaluated.

  • the_real_VIP

    Posted Jan 17, 2007 10:34 am PT

    Re Haaz: Guy, I don't even need to rate your credibility compared to mine.

  • HaaZ

    Posted Jan 17, 2007 8:20 am PT

    "the_real_VIP - I seriously doubt the Xbox 360 will be successful in China... If you ever noticed, we look at what would give the best for the price and the PS3 and the Wii does it." ~ FANBOY ALERT!

    "technically, it shows you know nothing about politics. The chinese government is more stable than our own democratic government where here it can easily be brought down by a vote of no-confidence." ~ Which government are you talking about? The Star-Wars Galactic Alliance?

  • cjcr_alexandru

    Posted Jan 17, 2007 5:43 am PT

    It hasn't succeeded in Japan so the chances to succeed in China are low.

  • the_real_VIP

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 11:01 pm PT

    Re Purvis11: technically, it shows you know nothing about politics. The chinese government is more stable than our own democratic government where here it can easily be brought down by a vote of no-confidence.

  • Purvis11

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 9:21 pm PT

    mkirklions,
    lol I love the dry humour. I don't mean to offend any Chinese citizens but your government isn't exactly what I would call stable.

  • williamwu1985

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 8:27 pm PT

    they will sell a lot, just for console, then can say they sold a lot worldwide, there already mod chip in china right now because i am a chinese too.
    people will buy the console and mod it to play copied game. MS is only gonna lose more money.

  • Game13a13y

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 7:22 pm PT

    i doubt they will let Xbox360 sell in China. i'm chinese myself, if they would want to let any foreign video game company to sell their machines there first, it would most likely be Nintendo or Sony, but neither of them can "crack" the market, why think M$ can?

  • VengenceZero

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 6:21 pm PT

    thats 1 billion people. Wow, if MS can pull that off.....I Dont know what to say

  • LaSelva_Factor

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 4:03 pm PT

    Well, considering how the 360 is doing in the East, I'd say the more countires the better.

  • mkirklions

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 3:38 pm PT

    I cant imagine how they can sensor the 360 and their games.

    Man I cant wait until China rebels and tries to reform their government.

    "hey guys look how hong kong is doing, my buddy is so rich"
    -"WHAT IS HONG KONG!"
    "Dont worry ill send you this site my friend named chin chog gave me, its called ****proxy^347haxorz.com"
    -"But thats illegal"
    "so is having 2 kids"
    -"lets riot!"
    * "Today in other news china has had the largest revolt since the tiniman square massacre"

  • TryMe01

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 3:36 pm PT

    that is one way of boosting your sales in the asian market, sell your product to the country with the largest population. after all, japan arent really interested in what you have MS

  • the_real_VIP

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 3:30 pm PT

    Re blacktorn: seems you never heard anything about economy. China is even going over the average 10% successful economic growth a year that industrial countries does. By 2020 (in about 13 years), it will be the #1 economic power in the world. Even if they just opened their currency to the world's market, they still keep the value so low that it attracts so many investors and manufacturers.

    I seriously doubt the Xbox 360 will be successful in China. I'm chinese-canadian and the simple fact of paying a monthly fee (even a small amount) to go online irks me. If you ever noticed, we look at what would give the best for the price and the PS3 and the Wii does it.

  • HyperMetaDragon

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 3:23 pm PT

    Selling in China would be a huge success, given that China holds 1.3 out of 6 billion people in the entire world, and also given that they're going to become one of the world's superpowers in the next 10 years, so if they advance in technology, Xbox 360 will sell like crazy.

  • nmandude

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 3:22 pm PT

    Cool, even if only 1 percent of the Chinese buy a 360, that would still be, like, 13 million.

  • ElectrolightSH

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 3:02 pm PT

    Cool, Go Microsoft! Kicking $ony's **** in yet another country.

  • SupremeRoyalist

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 2:51 pm PT

    Ohh wow, i didnt even know 360's weren't sold in China.

  • Aznsilvrboy

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 2:48 pm PT

    GANGSTA287:
    "WTF, i've already played some dudes from China in Rainbow Six, they must have gotten them from Taiwan..."

    They couldn't have gotten it from Taiwan because the Chinese are not allowed to enter Taiwan.

  • xboxdudeman800

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 2:47 pm PT

    yipee for rampant piracy!

  • HaaZ

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 2:44 pm PT

    Microsoft has several business ventures in China already. They took heat, alongside Yahoo I beleive, for censoring material the Chinese government deemed inappropriate. They responded by acknowledging they were bound by the laws established in the countries they did business with. When the president of China came to the US for an official visit with Bush several months ago, he first visited Bill Gates himself (that is, BEFORE he visited President Bush). I think Jon Stewart even had a few jokes about it.

    Microsoft has been establishing positive relations with China for awhile now. I'm sure MSN wasn't the only product they were trying to milk over there. I'm confident that the X360's penetration in China has been planned for a long time. With the strong anti-Japan sentiment in China, Microsoft would dominate the hardware market essentially uncontested in China, even if Sony or Nintendo ever successfully launched their respective systems there.

  • Lobezno_D

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 2:41 pm PT

    This is good news. China is an untapped market for console gaming. I know that portables sell pretty well over there. I'm wondering if and when this happens how would xbox live content be modified by the government? As long as the hardware makes it over I'm sure the Chinese and MS will come to some sort of agreement...on the same note I seriously doubt mainland China would be seeing GoW anytime soon.

  • darkflame202113

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 2:31 pm PT

    china is rock with rpg

  • CaptainCrazy

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 2:23 pm PT

    China is the fastest growing civilization in the world and has a rapidly growing middle and wealthy class. Any company would be crazy not to try and tap into this gigantic market. I'm sure MS will push for as long as it takes. But I'm betting the gov't will put some conditions on them such as partnering with chinese game companies to develop games specifically for the chinese as they dont' like outside influences on their culture (the gov't anyway)

  • OfficialBed

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 2:23 pm PT

    neato

  • just_lester

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 2:22 pm PT

    But do realize that the PlayStation brand is already very well established in China.. and on top of that, most Chinese gamers are PC gamers (you all know why).

    I really don't see Microsoft being too successful. But then again... 'only time will tell'

  • blacktorn

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 2:19 pm PT

    why is china hard to crack?

    3 quarters of the chinese population won't even be able to afford an 360,although china is the second largest country in the world so there must be some money in it,by hard to crack i tihnk they mean because of piracy and mod chips that rife through china...

  • Igwababa

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 2:07 pm PT

    lets see 1 billion people even if microsoft gets 1% of all chinas population to get an 360 its still 10 million consoles, so yeah I can see why MS wants China before SOny gets into a position to get to china.

  • Fubdub

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 2:06 pm PT

    They are already widely available in the major cities (I've seen them in many places in both Chengdu and Beijing), they get them from Hong Kong and I'm guessing the software is in Chinese already, so this more a symbolic move.

  • Buck_Hotep

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 2:00 pm PT

    Anyone who thinks that the Chinese market is similar to the Japanese one is being waaayyy to Asian-centric. the two are not tied together by anything other than they're on the same continental shelf. The Chinese market doesn't care what industry tries to come into the country to sell their products. What they care about is whether said products will follow strict Chinese policies in terms of politics, etc... Microsoft is smart for trying to set-up release of the 360 in China. The biggest market in the world right now which is having an economic rennaissance that means alot, quite alot, of people with some semblance of disposable income. If they can get a good head of steam in the major Chinese cities then they could clearly set-up favorable business arrangements with Chinese game distributors and even developers.

  • chansaet

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 1:44 pm PT

    does microsoft really want to go to china. The #1 boot legging country in the world. They have no copyright laws (unless they changed the law recently). Imagine the moded x360 over there.

  • rbop

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 1:42 pm PT

    @EmptySki -
    "If 360 makes it to China and does succesful, then i might be a major threat to the competition, but microsoft really needs to get into Japan to really win."

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Why?

  • lrsp

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 1:41 pm PT

    A 360 not selling in an Asian country? What a surprise.

  • eddymunch

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 1:40 pm PT

    Sweet, now Chinese citizens can submit propaganda over XBL, haha.

  • Nintendo_Man

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 1:38 pm PT

    360s don't sell in Japan and they won't in China, both are very similiar markets. They are better off focusing on improving their problems in Japan first.

  • peeweeshift

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 1:31 pm PT

    china does make up a big population of teh world so seems like a good idea.

  • bhawksfan

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 1:23 pm PT

    Piracy will eventually be regulated. If Microsoft can crack the market and absorb the losses until piracy is regulated . . . wow.

  • gagan21

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 1:19 pm PT

    good for chinese gamers

  • TintedChimes

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 1:17 pm PT

    Modded xbox360 will run rampant in a couple of months if they open up in China, its not even funny, okay, maybe a little.

  • CaptainCrazy

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 1:14 pm PT

    Wow, imagine if they cracked into the chinese market. It would be all over for Sony. The Chinese still have a deep resentment for Japanese due to the WWII atrocities are similar to what the Jews went through. They often boycott Japanese products so MS would have full reign of the market.

  • johncraven

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 1:13 pm PT

    well, maybe they were waiting for the moment that it was profitable to sell the console only, knowing well that they won't get much on the games department (piracy).

  • warjunkyd85

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 1:11 pm PT

    Damned pirates!

  • Loc13

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 1:11 pm PT

    being Chinese myself, I doubt xbox360 will have major sucess in China because Chinese gamers' taste is very similar to the Japanese one. Unless they can successfully crack it and make pirated copies of the games, not many people in China can afford to purchase a xbox360 or ps3. They'll probably stick with their good old PS2 and play winning eleven.

  • sideoftheham

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 1:07 pm PT

    damn...china still dosen't have 360s...sucks to be them..but they have WoW..

  • XlpranksterlX

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 1:04 pm PT

    Chinese farmers for achievment points LOL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111!!!one!!!!!!!!!!eleven!1

  • paranoiasurviva

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 1:01 pm PT

    Just put WoW on the Xbox 360 and it'll sell like hotcakes.

  • TWOC2689

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 12:59 pm PT

    Great well have over two million more gamers to play with on-line!

  • EmptySki

    Posted Jan 16, 2007 12:55 pm PT

    If 360 makes it to China and does succesful, then i might be a major threat to the competition, but microsoft really needs to get into Japan to really win.

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