Foreign videogame consoles to go on sale in Sept.

Doubts loom on whether devices could woo Chinese videogamers

In less than two months' time, the first legal sales of videogame consoles will begin in the Chinese mainland, with Microsoft Corp's Xbox One set to be the first foreign gaming console to hit the market in September.

The date for the launch was set on September 23, the company announced in Shanghai on Wednesday.

Amid fanfare over the upcoming arrival of the console, domestic online retailer jd.com began to accept mobile online pre-orders for the Xbox One, in partnership with Tencent Holdings' messaging services Mobile QQ and WeChat, starting from Monday.

China Telecom Corp, the smallest of the country's three telecom carriers, also said on Friday it will sell the Xbox One from September via an exclusive contract.

Despite hopes for the inception of an unlocked mainland market after the lift of a 14-year ban on console sales in the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, some expressed concerns over whether local gamers could really be enticed by the gaming consoles.

"It's hard to get a good connection with other players [outside of the Chinese mainland], if you're playing on a console," said Michael Crossman, an American expat working in Beijing who has been a PlayStation enthusiast since the original PlayStation.

The PlayStation series of videogame consoles was first introduced by Sony Computer Entertainment in 1994, and has since then been among the top sellers worldwide.

In November last year, Sony released the newest generation PlayStation console, the PlayStation 4 (PS4), about the same time as when the Xbox One was unveiled by Microsoft.

Crossman, who bought a PS4 in Hong Kong, said however he has pretty much given up on online games on the console, as he can't really play them in the mainland, due to official oversight of the nation's Internet.

Are they genuinely ready?

Such concerns raise questions about whether foreign console makers would consider setting up servers or infrastructure specifically designed for the mainland market but which may not be connected to the rest of the world.

In the mainland's gaming market, which is primarily focused on PCs and mobile gadgets, playing games is reliant on and connected to domestic servers.

It seems that vendors such as Sony and Microsoft have not really tried to tackle these concerns.

In the case of Sony, the Japanese technology conglomerate is yet to clarify its plans on introducing its consoles to the mainland market, although its Chinese arm announced a deal in May concerning two joint ventures to produce and market its gaming consoles in the mainland with Shanghai Oriental Pearl (Group) Co.

"We recognize China is [a] promising market and would like to introduce our unique PlayStation experience, but have nothing further to announce at this point in time," Masaki Tsukakoshi, a Tokyo-based spokesman for Sony Computer Entertainment Inc, told the Global Times via e-mail on Tuesday.

Responding to questions about how the company will plan on bringing its services, the same throughout the world, to the mainland market, Tsukakoshi said "we are considering various possibilities," without elaborating.

Any further information won't be known until the consoles come to the mainland market, "sometime within the year," Cai Leilei, senior China PR manager at Sony, told the Global Times.

Questions sent to Microsoft went unanswered by press time, while Nintendo could not be immediately reached for comment.

In the eyes of the longtime videogame player Crossman, it's no surprise that neither of these vendors have made it clear how they will run their businesses in the mainland. "I don't think the companies realize this yet," he said.

Gold mine or land mine?

But if that is the case that the creation of a whole separate and new system needs to be put into place, will the market, the world's largest by many criteria that include smartphone shipments, still be on course to become a gold mine for gaming consoles?

"It would be tough for these console companies to have their global gaming platforms experienced by local players," Gu Haoyi, a senior analyst at Beijing-based research firm Analysys International, told the Global Times.

In addition to worries about access to the global platforms that are currently run by the companies, Gu said the game content, if not handled well, may weigh on the development of the market.

Instead of games tailored for the local market, it is more likely that the games will be localized adaptations of their global versions, he believes, noting "this might be a problem as such games might not pass review by local authorities."

In April, the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture, Radio, Film & TV released detailed rules outlining the application procedures for foreign-invested videogame console makers to manufacture and sell their products in the city's free trade zone, according to which games containing gambling features won't be approved.

The games should be able to "spread the knowledge of science, arts, humanity, and benefit the healthy growth of young people," read the rules.

In a market as huge as the mainland, prospects for a decent growth from a base of zero in terms of legal sales are enticing yet risky, analysts said.

The global sales for PS4 hit 4.59 million for the year up to July 19, according to UK-based VGChartz which tracks the worldwide videogame industry sales data for both hardware and software.

VGChartz tallied worldwide sales of Xbox One for the year at 2.04 million.

The figures are likely to get a big boost if some of the mainland's game players, even if only a small portion, shift to game consoles.

The number of users playing online games hit 368 million by the end of June 2014, showed figures from the China Internet Network Information Center released on July 21.

But the establishment of local servers is hardly an easy mission, complicating business models considered for the market, said Gu at Analysys International.

Pricing for the consoles might be another impediment for foreign vendors, the analyst added.

A few domestic firms including Huawei also announced their consoles for the market, the price tags of which appear to be more enticing at less than $200, compared to the likes of the Xbox One.

The Xbox One will cost 4,299 yuan ($697.17) with the Kinect motion detection system and 3,699 yuan without Kinect, Microsoft said on Wednesday.

In comparison, in the US, the console with Kinect goes for $499 and without it retails for $399.

"Why would local users opt for a pricy console if it is not capable of being something genuinely fascinating and therefore sets itself apart from either PCs or smart gadgets?" asked Gu.