Recently there has been some reports from inside-sources of the gaming industry, that Microsoft would soon be releasing its Xbox 360 console in China. Microsoft has been reportedly enquiring local retailers and Internet operators about cooperation for a few months now.
Getting one´s merchandise to the Chinese market is not simple, since all entertainment must be formally accepted by China´s culture and information ministry. The ministry goes through all games and gives them its blessings if the contents are thought to be non-harmful. According to the source, an exact release date cannot be given, as the regulators´ views on the console and its software are uncertain.
The Chinese game market is nowadays dominated mostly by PC´s online games and Sony´s Playstation 2. Xbox 360 is to meet serious competion from PS2 on the console front as the latter has already been on the market for three years the PC on the other hand should continue its dominance because of its lower pricing. Florian Pihs, the vice-president of the analyst firm Analysys, says that Microsoft also aims to develop the Chinese software development community.
It is however yet uncertain how Microsoft is going to combat China´s wild-blooming piracy. According to Pihs, piracy can be controlled by improving software copy-protection or by rethinking the pricing of the console, although higher prices would obviously affect the console´s sales.