Last month, Microsoft announced that they would launch Xbox One to China in September and to be the first console allowed in China after the country’s lift of a 14-year ban on the sale of consoles. It has now been announced that Sony has partnered with Shanghai Oriental Pearl Group Co Ltd to be able begin bringing the PlayStation consoles to China, according to a statement filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
BusinessWeek reports that, Sony agreed to form two ventures with Shanghai Oriental Pearl Group in order to start making and selling the PlayStation consoles. The two ventures will allow Sony to own a 70 percent stake on one venture that will manage hardware manufacturing and sales, while owning 49 percent in the other venture that will manage services, sales, licensing, distribution, and software R&D.
Reuters also reports more on the statistics that the two ventures would bring to Sony and Shanghai Oriental Pearl Group saying:
“One of the joint ventures will have registered capital of 10 million yuan ($1.60 million) and will be 51 percent owned by Shanghai Oriental Pearl Culture Development Co and 49 percent owned by Sony (China), Shanghai Oriental Pearl said in the filing.
The other will have registered capital of 43.8 million yuan ($7.02 million) and will be 30 percent owned by Shanghai Oriental Pearl Culture Development Co and 70 percent owned by Sony (China).” ($1 = 6.24 Chinese Yuan)
No reports have been given yet on when the consoles would be coming to the Chinese market, and no word on whether it will be the PlayStation 4 or a specially designed console to be sold in China.
The ban of consoles in China back in 2000, was due to concerns that video games would be negatively impacting the physical and mental development of children. Even though the ban has been lifted, there was a list that was released with censorship rules for console games that was published, which would disallow games that promote drug use or violence. The list also included:
- Gambling-related content or game features
- Anything that violates China’s constitution
- Anything that threatens China’s national unity, sovereignty, or territorial integrity.
- Anything that harms the nation’s reputation, security, or interests.
- Anything that instigates racial/ethnic hatred, or harms ethnic traditions and cultures.
- Anything that violates China’s policy on religion by promoting cults or superstitions.
- Anything that promotes or incites obscenity, drug use, violence, or gambling.
- Anything that harms public ethics or China’s culture and traditions.
- Anything that insults, slanders, or violates the rights of others.
- Other content that violates the law
You can read our previous article about Microsoft Xbox One coming to China here.