After lifting an unfathomable (at least to gamers) 14 year ban on video game consoles, the Chinese population is set to be inundated with current gen machines.
Sales of Playstation 4, Xbox One and Wii U are set to soar as millions of Chinese people will get their first taste of something many of us take for granted. The Wall Street Journal has reported that China’s Ministry of Culture released a statement last week saying companies like Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo can now sell and manufacture their consoles in the country.
They don’t know what they’ve missed.
The new legislation will be a far cry from the situation in recent years for the industrious country, where foreign consoles could only be acquired in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone. The ban was initially placed in 2000 after fears that playing video games stunted the mental and physical growth of young people, and prolonged exposure would influence them negatively.
The ban was lifted in September 2014 when Microsoft were given permission to sell the Xbox One, but the news has only been officially announced recently. Sony has been selling its PS4 since March 2015, and Nintendo are yet to set a date for the Wii U. People in China will be taking the good news with a pinch of salt however, as the communist country still has strict censorship rules that will likely see many of the most popular titles banned from the get go.
Mark is the Gaming Editor for UNILAD. Having grown up a gaming addict, he’s been deeply entrenched in culture and spends time away from work playing as much as possible. Mark studied music at University and found a love for journalism through going to local gigs and writing about them for local and national publications.