14 DAY TRIAL // It looks like Sony intends to launch its PlayStation 4 home console in China no later than this December, according to a recent report that has popped up online.
Bloomberg is reporting that Sony plans to begin selling its PS4 in China, seeking to win sales in one of the world's biggest markets, one that is especially starved after a 14-year long ban on home consoles.
The publication reports that Sony intends to move 200k consoles per year, citing a filing on the website of the China Free Trade Zone, and stating that Sony Computer Entertainment spokesperson Masaki Tsukakoshi confirmed the document to be authentic, but cautioned that the actual production amounts might differ from the listing.
China is a huge market, but it's also a difficult one
The strict document regulations in the country mean that one of the biggest business apertures in the world can also be one of the most difficult to tackle, translating into a limited number of games being eligible for the market.
Sony agreed to form two ventures with Shanghai Oriental Pearl Group to start manufacturing and selling consoles in China after the government lifted its ban, with the papers filed by the Chinese partner in May this year revealing that Sony will have a 70 percent stake in one venture, for hardware production, and a 49 percent stake in the other, relating to software sales and networks.
For the time being, the exact launch date of the PlayStation 4 in China has not been announced. Sony made it pretty clear on several occasions that it intended to sell its consoles in China, but did not reveal any concrete plans to do so.
Sony is determined to keep fighting
Sony isn't doing as well as it used to right now, heading for the sixth annual loss in seven years. The gaming branch of the company is one of the few doing good, with the company selling over 10 million PS4 units since the system's launch in November last year, and also registering solid software sales and game sales-related revenue from royalties.
Chief Executive Officer Kazuo Hirai is committed to revive Sony and to make it once again the beacon of innovation it used to be two decades ago, by focusing on entertainment, consoles and mobile devices.
The company sold its laptop division, and seeing the global decline of TV and camera demand, created a division destined to create the next PlayStation or similar game-changing device, allowing employees to pitch their revolutionary ideas, in hopes of revitalizing the corporation.