China To End Ban On Game Consoles?

H

HardOCP News

[H] News
Joined
Dec 31, 1969
Messages
0
The South China Morning Post says that the Chinese government may lift the ban on video game consoles. That means that the Chinese may finally be able to play the game consoles they make for Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo.

China is expected to soon end a 13-year ban on the sale of gaming consoles with only one key condition: foreign firms like Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft must make their products in Shanghai’s new free trade zone. The milestone move is part of a detailed policy blueprint for a “Shanghai free trade zone”, endorsed by Premier Li Keqiang.
Click to expand...
 
aL Mac said:
I didn't know the chinese couldn't own consoles?!
Click to expand...

That's why they produce so much stuff. Throw in a few PS3's/Last of Us, and people stop showing up for work.

I didn't know this either until this news story. Really shocked me. It's a huge economy, and I'm sure that it would be a huge market.
 
Each game. Not each Chinese game console. They need a first copy.
 
From what I understand the ban was cause China was afraid that video games would rot the brains of the youth. But in reality it was cause China didn't want outside influence, and considering how bad the piracy is in China the companies don't seem to have a problem with this. Remember, most games are made in Japan, and China and Japan don't have the best of relations.
 
Even if they lifted the ban, I don't think they would see mainstream console releases. Piracy would be through the roof, and since console generations always start off selling hardware at a loss to be recouped in software sales, it's not exactly an enticing market.
 
To be honest, this is good news.

The reason for no game consoles was to avoid being Westernized.

I have hope for China now.
 
Qinsp said:
To be honest, this is good news.

The reason for no game consoles was to avoid being Westernized.

I have hope for China now.
Click to expand...

I don't quite understand this? Why are consoles specifically related to Chinese westernization?

aL Mac said:
I didn't know the chinese couldn't own consoles?!
Click to expand...

This isn't exactly correct. It isn't a ban on the end user side but from the sales side.

China has a large black market and the Xbox 360 is actually sold through those channels pre-modded (which was done very early in its life).

Since the traditional console business model is designed around making money off software, official accessories, and now online/extra services it will be interesting to see how this would work in the Chinese market.
 
Qinsp said:
The reason for no game consoles was to avoid being Westernized. .
Click to expand...

What's kinda interesting about this, is that most consoles (Nintendo, Sony) are made in Japan which would be the far east. I suppose they would want to block the american games. You know.. I'm not sure what games are really popular in Japan? Do you really have Japanese playing CoD, Battlefield, Grand Theft Auto? Are there even Japanese versions of those games? I'm sure they have games that are Japanese?
 
limitedaccess said:
I don't quite understand this? Why are consoles specifically related to Chinese westernization?

....
Click to expand...

Under Mao, Western thought was eliminated. If you were westernized you went to re-education collective farms. As late as 1990, most Chinese did not believe man landed on the moon.

If China allow their people to know that democracy is an option, communism isn't going to last.

Console games, movies, full internet access, etc, will make the communist system collapse.

Lenin, Mao, Castro, Stalin, etc, all knew this. If you give people a choice, they will chose a government that allows you to make choices.
 
If they have a ban on consoles then why can they sell the ique there?
 
Qinsp said:
Under Mao, Western thought was eliminated. If you were westernized you went to re-education collective farms. As late as 1990, most Chinese did not believe man landed on the moon.

If China allow their people to know that democracy is an option, communism isn't going to last.

Console games, movies, full internet access, etc, will make the communist system collapse.

Lenin, Mao, Castro, Stalin, etc, all knew this. If you give people a choice, they will chose a government that allows you to make choices.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure exactly where you are getting your view point of China from.

Ignoring the historical/political debate aspect China has access to Computers and comparatively thriving PC gaming market. The smart phone market is already booming there as well. Also the black market has enabled access to western media consumption for decades now. Western style consumption is already rampant in China and has been for quite some time.

So why are consoles specifically related to Chinese westernization? Console significance, I think due to media influence from certain interests, I find is extremely over rated.
 
I doubt this will change consumption that much ... families are not going to want things that interfere with children's studies so there isn't a big market there ... most of their non-exempt work force live in dormatories (not apartments) so having a game console there is problematic ... this will simply bring the black market consumption into the light

Besides, China will still have all their censorship requirements in place that may prevent games from being released there until they are modified to meet the Chinese censorship rules ... that may or may not be cost effective to do in the China market or people may prefer the black market uncensored versions ... also, would XBox Live and PSN be compatible with Chinese firewall requirements or would they need to be modified for those also
 
limitedaccess said:
I'm not sure exactly where you are getting your view point of China from.

Ignoring the historical/political debate aspect China has access to Computers and comparatively thriving PC gaming market. The smart phone market is already booming there as well. Also the black market has enabled access to western media consumption for decades now. Western style consumption is already rampant in China and has been for quite some time.

So why are consoles specifically related to Chinese westernization? Console significance, I think due to media influence from certain interests, I find is extremely over rated.
Click to expand...

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

Fuck Mao. He made Hitler look like Mother Theresa. Not that Stalin was any better, but the magnitude of his crimes against humanity make him someone who should have never been born.
 
Tell them to take their free trade zone and shove it up their asses.

Off course we like cheap stuff, but I love to trade love with love. ban all made in china products until they are made in Kalifornia Socialist Zone.
 
They will end the ban, then GTA5 will come out, then they will ban them again. That's how it works in China.
 
The key point is that "foreign firms like Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft must make their products in Shanghai’s new free trade zone." MAKE their products IN the new free trade zone. That's quite the condition.
 
Maxx said:
The key point is that "foreign firms like Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft must make their products in Shanghai’s new free trade zone." MAKE their products IN the new free trade zone. That's quite the condition.
Click to expand...

Yep probably will have huge rental / lease fees for the "free trade zone"

It's all such a joke that our lobbyist have enabled this country to get to the point where everything is made in China yet that very country pretty much won't let you import anything. Talk about a 1 way road.
 
rudy said:
Yep probably will have huge rental / lease fees for the "free trade zone"

It's all such a joke that our lobbyist have enabled this country to get to the point where everything is made in China yet that very country pretty much won't let you import anything. Talk about a 1 way road.
Click to expand...

Don't just blame the lobbyists for off-shoring ... consumers have played their part in this because they want lots of fancy toys at the lowest possible cost ... lobbyists didn't create Walmart and Amazon (consumers did) ;)
 
kbrickley said:
Don't just blame the lobbyists for off-shoring ... consumers have played their part in this because they want lots of fancy toys at the lowest possible cost ... lobbyists didn't create Walmart and Amazon (consumers did) ;)
Click to expand...

Do Chinese people also not want the same things?
 
kbrickley said:
Don't just blame the lobbyists for off-shoring ... consumers have played their part in this because they want lots of fancy toys at the lowest possible cost ... lobbyists didn't create Walmart and Amazon (consumers did) ;)
Click to expand...

Why would the US want to be a manufacturing country? Most of our engineers are still in the US.
 
Cheetoz said:
Why would the US want to be a manufacturing country? Most of our engineers are still in the US.
Click to expand...

Where did our engineers come from? Manufacturing that is where. You cant just be an engineering society you have to have experience and factories to support as well as consumers. The Chinese have systematically gone from making handmade products all the way up to making the teir 2 electronics in a very short time by using a good amount of protectionism, investment and subsidizing. Do you really think they are not ready to jump the gap and become the engineers as well? Can you really not see the painfully obvious trend and the new rash of not just Chinese made but actual Chinese branded companies that are going global?

Guess what engineers can't make shit if they don't have factories to make it and as you can CLEARLY see the Chinese will make any rule they damn well please it starts with make this product in our country, next it will be engineer this product in our country (this has actually already happened in some cases) and finally it will be your corporate headquarters must be in our country, or they will say screw you get out we can already do it all on our own.

Any entity will push as far as you allow them to push given your leverage. The USA has not bothered due to incompetent politicians to push back and it will eventually cost us a lot. Most of you will see this materialize in your lifetime.

Should we blame this on American people? Well they certainly have their part, they choose to buy Chinese products, but is it really their fault half the shit that is made in the USA sucks because that company is just banking on the made in USA to sell their garbage. Think the big 3 and what it did to them. Second we cannot expect every average American to understand the complexities and laws around international trade and nor should they need to, that is what we hired the damn politician to do, take care of it so we won't have to. So ultimately the blame is on use for voting ass clowns into office. and Trust me democrat or republican they are all ass clowns because they have allowed this to go on far to long.
 
rudy said:
Where did our engineers come from? Manufacturing that is where. You cant just be an engineering society you have to have experience and factories to support as well as consumers. The Chinese have systematically gone from making handmade products all the way up to making the teir 2 electronics in a very short time by using a good amount of protectionism, investment and subsidizing. Do you really think they are not ready to jump the gap and become the engineers as well? Can you really not see the painfully obvious trend and the new rash of not just Chinese made but actual Chinese branded companies that are going global?

Guess what engineers can't make shit if they don't have factories to make it and as you can CLEARLY see the Chinese will make any rule they damn well please it starts with make this product in our country, next it will be engineer this product in our country (this has actually already happened in some cases) and finally it will be your corporate headquarters must be in our country, or they will say screw you get out we can already do it all on our own.

Any entity will push as far as you allow them to push given your leverage. The USA has not bothered due to incompetent politicians to push back and it will eventually cost us a lot. Most of you will see this materialize in your lifetime.

Should we blame this on American people? Well they certainly have their part, they choose to buy Chinese products, but is it really their fault half the shit that is made in the USA sucks because that company is just banking on the made in USA to sell their garbage. Think the big 3 and what it did to them. Second we cannot expect every average American to understand the complexities and laws around international trade and nor should they need to, that is what we hired the damn politician to do, take care of it so we won't have to. So ultimately the blame is on use for voting ass clowns into office. and Trust me democrat or republican they are all ass clowns because they have allowed this to go on far to long.
Click to expand...

Well, this is taking the discussion sideways, but offshoring has its good and bad points. If it is any consolation, China has now become too expensive for the real cost sensitive businesses (textiles) and those businesses have started moving to other even lower cost countries (Vietnam, India, Bangladesh, etc). Some of our employment problems in the USA are also skill related ... there are many skilled jobs (welders, machinists, etc) that go unfilled because there are no trained applicants available (these are all high paying jobs too)

There is now some movement towards onshoring, as well as moving to closer locations (like Mexico) for some commodities ... for more expensive items (cars, computers, etc) there are some difficulties that make onshoring a possibility ... transportation distance requires lots of inventory be maintained (in warehouses and in transit due to lead times) or the use of expensive transportation options (air) ... new security requirements like C-TPAT make manufacturing inside a country less risky ... insurance for high value plants overseas can offset some of the cost gains ... political winds favor onshoring right now

Ultimately, we could also take a page from our industrial neighbor to the West and create free trade zones inside the USA ... more states could become right to work ... states could create large industrial parks where manufacturers and material suppliers could be in close proximity (one of the big logistical advantages of manufacturing in China) ... we could make sure that industry has access to reliable sources of resources (power, water, labor, etc)

As long as we avoid Tariffs and Trade Restrictions (which would likely cause a trade war... which is to no ones benefit), America can at least postpone the day when we become the world's second largest economy ... China will become the largest eventually, it is just simple math ... a country with over a Billion people will eventually consume and produce more than a country with around 300 million ;)
 
rudy said:
You cant just be an engineering society you have to have experience and factories to support as well as consumers.
Click to expand...

You can be just an engineering society if you have other manufacturing societies to interact with or if all your labor is automated.
 
Even though consoles have been banned since 2000, they still play lots of World of Warcraft and other PC games. It will be interesting to see what affect this will have on the PC-gaming market.

Not to mention the fact that the Chinese gov't will still regulate which games can be purchased by the population. Most PC games have been highly censored to comply with gov't regulations. This would mean more time/money/effort being spent by developers to produce Chinese versions of console games.

Sure it's a huge market but if developers are spending more time making multiple versions of games, we all lose.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top