Monday 20 July 2015

China Is A Difficult Market For Microsoft And Sony Gaming Consoles



Microsoft is optimistic about its gaming console market in China.

Sony Corp and Microsoft Corporation have been keeping a close watch on the Chinese market since the country raised its ban from video gaming consoles. Both the companies were extremely spontaneous about launching their gaming consoles in the Chinese market. However, the response has been relatively disappointing so far.

According to a recent report published by Niko Partners clearly highlights that Microsoft Xbox One and Sony PlayStation 4 will not be able to do quite well in China at least this year. As estimated the accumulative sales of Microsoft and Sony’s gaming console is said to be 550,000 units by the end of FY15 as estimated by the company.

The company has suggested that these firms need to come up with more high budgeted and high-quality AAA games so that sales boost in the region. Currently the list of games being offered in the Chinese gaming market are extremely narrow and many big games like the Call of Duty it yet to be launched.

Another reason why these gaming consoles did not do quite well is that the Chinese market has more gamers interested in PC gaming where these consoles are extremely expensive for them. Ironically, the Xbox is priced at $607 in the Chinese market which is $200 more than the US pricing.

On the other hand, Phil Spencer of Microsoft is optimistic about this venture where a conference for gaming is scheduled in China for the coming month. Microsoft seeks to capitalize on the conference where they hope that they will engage more gamers. Moreover, the report also claims that the sale of smart TVs will also supersede the sales of gaming consoles FY19. The reason behind this is that smart TVs have various functionalities, they are cheaper and also have several games available on them.

The founder and managing partner of Niko Partners, Ms. Lisa Cosmas Hanson mentioned, "Despite China being a predominantly PC online gaming culture, Chinese who are now 26-35 years old grew up in the days of Nintendo Super Famicom consoles and are accustomed to playing games with a controller via a TV." Moreover, these gamers will have the ability to adopt OTT games that can be played on this television along with gaming consoles which will transform the living room into an entertainment station.

Hence in a nutshell, despite the criticism Microsoft is still optimistic about this venture and believes that they will soon capitalize on the Chinese market for gaming consoles.

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