It’s not entirely surprising that videogame hardware-makers want to peddle their wares in China now that the country’s console ban has been lifted, but that certainly doesn’t mean I expected Microsoft to get there first. According to a recent statement, however, that’s exactly what the company intends to do — possibly as soon as September 2014.
Xbox corporate vice president of marketing Yusef Mehdi broke the news via a post to news.xbox.com, and if his words are anything to go by, Microsoft is chomping at the bit for some of that untapped Chinese moolah.
On behalf of the entire Xbox team, we are incredibly excited to bring Xbox One and the next generation of games, entertainment, online education and fitness to China. Launching Xbox One in China is a significant milestone for us and for the industry, and it’s a step forward in our vision to deliver the best games and entertainment experiences to more fans around the world. Enwei Xie will lead Xbox China as general manager, bringing years of Microsoft experience both in China and abroad.
Beyond simply sending Xbox to China, the Xbox One will be one of the first online-enabled, internet TV devices to grace the country, and Microsoft has a number of content partnerships already in the pipeline. Noted in the blog post, they’ll be working with BesTV, a company with “a rich history of delivering innovative entertainment content, and an extensive catalog of content to share with future Xbox One owners in China.” Sounds promising. They do have “best” in their name, I’ll give them that.
This is uncharted territory Microsoft is stepping into, but when there’s a market as large as China up for grabs, I suppose risks are worth it for the potential payoff. Whether or not Chinese buyers will welcome Xbox more openly than Japan has is anyone’s guess, but a multi-month head start for the Redmond crew certainly can’t hurt.
