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Xbox one officially launches in China

K

Kayant

Member
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Microsoft said that it has finally launched its Xbox One video game console in China. That’s a first for Microsoft, since China’s console ban has been in effect for the entire time that Microsoft has been selling Xbox machines.
The launch with Chinese partner BesTV was supposed to happen last week, but Microsoft delayed the official sales until today. The delay was no surprise, given how many things can go wrong with a console launch. Microsoft said it has launched the Xbox One, which debuted in the U.S. in the fall of last year, is now on sale in 4,000 retail locations across 37 cities in China.

That’s a pretty good spread, but it’s worth noting there are a 160 cities in China with more than 1 million people.
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Via - http://venturebeat.com/2014/09/28/its-official-finally-microsoft-launches-xbox-one-in-china/

Launch lineup 10 Games -

  1. Forza 5
  2. PowerStar Golf
  3. Zoo Tycoon
  4. Max: The Curse of Brotherhood
  5. NeverWinter
  6. Rayman Legends
  7. Trials Fusion
  8. Naughty Kitties
  9. Fantasia: Music Evolved? or Dance Central: Spotlight
  10. Kinect Sports Rivals?
Via(translated) - http://www.wpdang.com/archives/122396.html

Bloomberg report on pricing, console marketshare and more

Regulators are wary of violent content, and among the absent games are Destiny and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Day Zero Edition.
How the Xbox fares in China, where the exodus of casual players away from pure game machines is more pronounced, may show whether the world’s most-populous nation can help reverse the console makers’ fortunes. Video-game sales in the country are estimated to hit 111 billion yuan ($18 billion) this year.
“They will have to follow that up with good content,” said Brian Blau, an analyst at researcher Gartner Inc., referring to Microsoft’s game library in China. “Getting out of the gate first will be remembered. That’s a feather in their cap.
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Titles available to Chinese gamers are essentially free of graphic violence and include Forza Motorsport 5, Kinect Sports Rivals and Zoo Tycoon.
Halo: The Master Chief Collection, along with Destiny and the latest Call of Duty installment, are among the console’s 10 top-selling titles in the U.S. listed on Amazon.com yet are unavailable in China.

One exclusive to the China market is Naughty Kitties from local developer Coconut Island.
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Souvenir Purchase
Wang Song, a 32-year-old game developer, was on hand with about 150 others for the console’s release at a Suning department store in Beijing. Wang said he’s been playing video games since elementary school and has black-market versions of the Xbox 360 and Sony’s PS3 and PS4.

For now, his Xbox One purchase is more of a ‘‘souvenir.”

“I’m not interested in any of the 10 games provided on the Xbox now,” Wang said of the titles released in China. “I’m waiting for Halo and Titanfall.”

Microsoft and partner BesTV New Media Co. have a pipeline of more than 70 titles they are working to bring into the market, including games like Halo and Killer Instinct, said Microsoft spokeswoman Steffi Cao.

The device will sell in China for 4,299 yuan ($700) with the motion-sensing Kinect controller, compared with the $499.99 price that the same combination sells for in the U.S.
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For foreign console makers, the lure is obvious. Video game sales will jump 39 percent to about 111 billion yuan this year, estimates Nick Ning, an analyst at 86Research Ltd. based in Shanghai.

Illegal Market

Still, he forecasts only 5 percent of the market will go to consoles.

“Firstly, smartphone games have developed and now can do a lot,” Ning said. “Secondly, censorship in China is very strict. Even if people buy the console, the content they want to play needs to also get through censorship.”
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BBC report on how it could fare/black market and opinion from a gamer(Video)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-29405417

More info on localised content and such - http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=864851&highlight=

Launch Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtiXkOc0R34&channel=RuptlyTV

Info on Store -

Dreamgazer said:
Going to work soon, leaving this here since people asked for this information before:

China XB1 cannot change regions.
China XB1 can use foreign download codes, provided that the game is available on the China XBL market place.

Foreign XB1s cannot change their region to China.
"Singapore" is the only region with Simplified Chinese for foreign XB1s.
Foreign XB1s can use China XB1 download codes, provided that the game is available on XBL market place.
Foreign XB1s can log into XBL accounts registered under a China XB1.

As of the moment, there is no IP-based ban.



There are.
What's funny is that there are now sub-console wars (imports vs. official) within the Chinese XBOX community.
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X

Xando

Member
“I’m not interested in any of the 10 games provided on the Xbox now,” Wang said of the titles released in China. “I’m waiting for Halo and Titanfall.”
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I thought they arent allowed to play violent games on the official XB1?

Wasnt the Official XB1 regionlocked and cant play the blackmarket games?
 
N

Nightengale

Member
Xando said:
I thought they arent allowed to play violent games on the official XB1?

Wasnt the Official XB1 regionlocked and cant play the blackmarket games?
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They can if/once regulators allow them.

There's a lot of violent content available for PC games in China, so it's not a definitive block. It just needs longer in the approval process pool.
 
C

Canis lupus

Member
Hopefully there's a market for consoles in China. Could bring in some nice capital from Chinese investors to traditional (console) gaming.
 
G

GunslingerVit

Banned
It will be interesting to see how the Chinese market will adopt the XBO. According to several topics on GAF, the XBO in China will be either doomed or a huge cash cow.
 
I

Impeccable

Member
Very cool - wondering what the grand scheme of an official chinese launch will have going forward aside from a number to add to the sales figure pile.

Wonder if it'll cause console video game development in the country or if this is just a bullet point.
 
D

Doffen

Member
Impeccable said:
Very cool - wondering what the grand scheme of an official chinese launch will have going forward aside from a number to add to the sales figure pile.

Wonder if it'll cause console video game development in the country or if this is just a bullet point.
Click to expand...

Microsoft might hope to get a bigger foot inside the Chinese market and later start selling more of their ecosystem to the consumers there.
 
S

sohois

Member
Impeccable said:
Very cool - wondering what the grand scheme of an official chinese launch will have going forward aside from a number to add to the sales figure pile.

Wonder if it'll cause console video game development in the country or if this is just a bullet point.
Click to expand...

There are already a number of major studios located in China, if hardly any Chinese owned developers on consoles. Still, a great deal of Chinese working on console titles.
 
D

darkwing

Member
Impeccable said:
Very cool - wondering what the grand scheme of an official chinese launch will have going forward aside from a number to add to the sales figure pile.

Wonder if it'll cause console video game development in the country or if this is just a bullet point.
Click to expand...

just remember the population of China, and then compute the % of the market, it is huge, MS is playing smart I think, meanwhile Sony is nowhere
 
gaming_noob

gaming_noob

Member
Congrats to MS. I'm genuinely interested in seeing how this will play out. Possibilities include consoles being a big hit and development teams will start catering more to Chinese tastes. I would like to see how true the stereotype of Chinese favoring MMOs instead of other genres is.
 
P

Piccoro

Member
So did any of you guys encountered any Chinese friends on Xbox Live?
I'm curious because in all of this years playing on PSN and Live I haven't encountered a single Chinese player yet...
 
O

orochi91

Member
Kinect will be for China like what the Wii was for the US: a game changer.

Casuals will eat that up, while the core gamer will have no choice to pick up an XB1
since the PS4 has no release date in sight.

MS is playing Sony like a fiddle.
 
R

rrc1594

Member
orochi91 said:
Kinect will be for China like what the Wii was for the US: a game changer.

Casuals will eat that up, while the core gamer will have no choice to pick up an XB1
since the PS4 has no release date in sight.

MS is playing Sony like a fiddle.
Click to expand...

Can't tell if serious?
 
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