What about China?

[kidtmnt]

Isnt China the country with the largest population on earth? Ive also heard that China is the fastest booming market in business. Any news on if modern China is getting their hands on the Wii and other next gen consoles?

 

[londonspod]

I imagine(though I'm not sure), but US and UK are slightly faster growing markets than China, so that's probably why Wii was released there first. Perhaps China will be next, thats how it was for the World of Warcraft game

 

[fakemxcan]

I imagine(though I'm not sure), but US and UK are slightly faster growing markets than China, so that's probably why Wii was released there first. Perhaps China will be next, thats how it was for the World of Warcraft game

HAHAHA, you obviously dont take an economics class. China is by FAR the fastest growing economy in the world!!! at their current rate they would overtake the US in less than 10 years

 

[kidtmnt]

ok, I thought the UK was the last place for the next gen consoles.

 

[gnahc79]

None of the members of my dev team in China have seen the Wii in China. They sure did have a blast playing it at my place over the weekend though .

 

[epikon]

china has the fastest growing economy, with india the second.

 

[drroett]

You also have to remember there are a lot of strict rules for chinese online services and stuff. I know for Guild Wars the Chinese people were not allowed to play on servers with other countries for some reason. (Each country has it's own server and can access and international area) but the Chinese had not connectivity to the international area.

 

[gamechaser001]

You also have to remember there are a lot of strict rules for chinese online services and stuff. I know for Guild Wars the Chinese people were not allowed to play on servers with other countries for some reason. (Each country has it's own server and can access and international area) but the Chinese had not connectivity to the international area.

Yep, China is a communist country, and have very limited interent access, and for the worldwide internet access they do get, it's so slow that you could get the fastest possible speed out of a 56K modem, the chinese government looks at all the incoming and outgoing content making it slow

So, if they were to play WoW online, there would be a lag in their connection, so why not just not let them do it?

 

[cannon]

HAHAHA, you obviously dont take an economics class. China is by FAR the fastest growing economy in the world!!! at their current rate they would overtake the US in less than 10 years

Over take or do you mean take over, they have pretty much moved in and taken over Australia.

 

[fakemxcan]

Over take or do you mean take over, they have pretty much moved in and taken over Australia.

haha, i ment over take economically as far as GDP is concerned

 

[MK2]

as soon wii hk version will appear ,, wii price will depreciate in asia
i live in macau (a part of china)

 

[Arnaud]

China's never been a big market for consoles for a few reasons :
- Usually the TV is in the living room, and all the family watches it, so gaming is often restricted to the computer
- Smuggling & Piracy are so huge that a launch is China is very risky - that is why Nintendo (and others) prefer to launch in Singapore, HK and Taiwan first.

Altogether, China is very risky for console makers and as long as the Chinese government doesn't crack down on piracy, I don't think we'll see a lot of early Chinese launches...

 

[kidtmnt]

really solid points, Arnaud. thanks for the info

 

[MK2]

China's never been a big market for consoles for a few reasons :
- Usually the TV is in the living room, and all the family watches it, so gaming is often restricted to the computer
- Smuggling & Piracy are so huge that a launch is China is very risky - that is why Nintendo (and others) prefer to launch in Singapore, HK and Taiwan first.

Altogether, China is very risky for console makers and as long as the Chinese government doesn't crack down on piracy, I don't think we'll see a lot of early Chinese launches...

you did not know china history,japan and china war between 1937 and 1945,japanese kill chinese people Exceeds a million ,because of this reason,So there are no commercial exchanges in two countries ,is not you said piracy & smuggling ,which countries not piracy &smuggling,ut:

 

[Arnaud]

MK2, Sony and Nintendo products can be sold legally in China since very long.

You must be referring to South Korea, which was forbidding Japanese cultural products (video games included). However this law was revised 3 years ago and now Sony and Nintendo products are legal in South Korea as well.

So there are no commercial exchanges in two countries

May I refer you to this article :
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40192-2005Jan26.html
Showing you that China is Japan's number one trade partner since 2004.

Chinese & Japanese relations is a sensitive topic but I do not think it plays much of a role in the importance of China as a market for video game consoles.
For proof, Microsoft (US Company) did not launch the 360 in China in 2005 or even 2006 but waited 2007, over a year later than other asian countries.