Sony Wants To Invade China

[vansau]

Sony Wants To Invade China

If this gamble pays off, it could mean a ton of money for Sony.

China has got to be an awfully tempting game market to break into, so it's not terribly surprising that Sony Computer Entertainment's Asian wing is planning to make headway into the region. The company's revealed that it's officially set its sights on the country, so it's about to start on training and R&D programs that will eventually lead to "homegrown game development projects."

The major thrust of this project sounds like it's going to be an attempt to launch PlayStation hardware in the country. This may not sound like that big of a deal, but China is a notoriously difficult console market because both of government restrictions and extremely high piracy rates.

The program is set to start in the Guandong province and Sony is partnering with Guandong Animation City (which is contributing $227 million to the project). The aforementioned development projects will apparently feature "Chinese elements" that will hopefully feature international appeal. As a result, projections for this new venture estimate that it will generate $15 billion within the next five years (provided it turns out to be successful).

Source: <a href=http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2011-01-14-sony-targeting-chinese-mainland>GamesIndustry.biz

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[Lightslei]

Calling a failure already.

 

[Tim Latshaw]

Somewhere, Kevin Butler has a dragon in a headlock.

 

[Originality]

Trololololol.

No really, this is the country that made piracy an international business (e.g. modchips). This is the country that banned its people from Skype. This is the country that made so many knock-offs (the Apple knock-offs are some of the more amusingly named ones) that parodies should take lessons.

Then again, China has a lot of people. If Sony are successful, it really could make that estimated $15 billion.

 

[GeorgW]

This seems like an odd thing to do just after their hardware was cracked. Maybe that's why they've been so litigious.

 

[Frank_Sinatra_]

'In retaliation, Microsoft have made attempts to break into the North Korean market. This move is expected to be a disastrous failure.'

You win. Forever.

It'll be interesting to see how Sony plans to pull this off. As other people have stated, this being China there's a ton of pirate stuff going around... However pirates are less interesting than how they're going to deal with the government.

 

[epunk35]

lol According to the Red Dawn remake China is invading the US....Sony should be dissapointed when they get there and realize they left to invade the US :/

 

[Hunter65416]

Yeah this isn't gonna work lol I could think of about 10 games of the top of my head that the Chinese government wouldn't let in.

 

[vansau]

Somewhere, Kevin Butler has a dragon in a headlock.

This is my favorite quote of the day.

 

[mjc0961]

So Sony is trying to release the most insecure console ever seen in a country where piracy runs rampant. People may not have used the PS3 cracks to pirate things yet, but they damn well will now.

Keep up the good work Sony, and pretty soon you can win the "Dumbest company ever" award.

 

[BabyRaptor]

Oh, the nostalgia that picture caused...

 

[Rigs83]

I can insert a World War 2 joke here but that would be distasteful so I will just mention it and make you do it in your own mind and let you feel a foul taste in your own mouth for being so xenophobic.

Spoiler: Bang! I shoot you with my Meta Gun

 

[Jumplion]

'In retaliation, Microsoft have made attempts to break into the North Korean market. This move is expected to be a disastrous failure.'

I think I gave a loud enough "BWAHAHAHA" that it woke up my parents, thanks.

OT: This is a pretty bold move for Sony to move into. Let's see if it pays off.

 

[OtherSideofSky]

Last time I was in China I stopped by a major shopping center and took a look at their games department. It was filled with wall upon wall of boxes for games that don't exist (Pokemon: Shiny Gold, anyone?). That said, I did meet a girl who had an imported PSP and seemed to be running Patapon on it legitimately, so you never know.

 

[Autofaux]

Chi Fu: The Huns have invaded CHINA!

Oh.. wait.. nope, nope, just the Japanese again. Never mind. Continue working.

 

[Therumancer]

It's wishful thinking on Sony's part. A lot of companies want to break into China's market, but the problem is that China's trade practices involve policies where it limits how much money can actually leave China's economy to a tiny trickle. They pretty much export, but do very little in the way of importing. Being a robber economy they also shamelessly knock off and sell patents and IPs that they have no rights to, even going so far as to counterfeit goods by using the labels of well know companies (such as putting a Levis or Calvin Klein label on jeans not actually being produced by those companies).

Sony can throw a lot of money around, sure, but I don't think China is going to change it's policies for them. What's more if it makes a show of doing so, it's just as likely to change it's mind once Sony has become committed. Sony starts distributing consoles there, China prevents them from actually taking the money from the sales after the agreement, and then takes advantage of the situation and widespread access to the hardware to knock off Sony's proprietary technologies and trade secrets. Next thing you know we've got PS3s and PSP2s selling for $50 off of Ebay with labels that say "Sony" but are actually manufactured by Chinese labour with the money going directly into their economy.

Even if Sony seems to cut a deal, I'm not going to believe that have acheived anything unless they can keepit going and actually reap benefits for more than a decade. Honestly, despite a huge market, and a growing economy, I'm surprised anyone wants to try and do business with China anymore given the actual reasons why that economy is growing. It's like moths to a flame here.

 

[Suijen]

I can see why they'd want to penetrate into the market. There's actually a pretty large demand for video game consoles (the PSP is actually one of the most popular because it functions as a media player). Other electronic products like iphones are extremely popular there too.

There's a misconception that the Chinese prefer to buy cheap knockoffs. They only buy cheap knockoffs because they can't afford the real thing. The Chinese who can afford the real thing (which is quite a lot) run off to Hong Kong to do their shopping for LVs and electronic products. There are a lot of fakes, but there are also a lot of real sony products that have been imported (or smuggled if you want) from Hong Kong. The same applies for iphones, and other electronic products. I figure Sony wants to skip the middleman and just sell direct.

 

[Conza]

It's wishful thinking on Sony's part. A lot of companies want to break into China's market, but the problem is that China's trade practices involve policies where it limits how much money can actually leave China's economy to a tiny trickle. They pretty much export, but do very little in the way of importing.

Look, have to stop you there, China imports roughly $10 billion (10,000 million) more dollars worth of goods than they export to Australia, so despite their snail like progress in terms of political and socialogical growth and yes, I believe their non-floated currency is extremely cheeky from an international economic point of view, (and I think we need to consider they are a MASSIVE nation, so progress in some areas is justifiably slow), they do allow money to leave the country, in the interest of China and their trading partners.

http://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/fs/chin.pdf

http://www.china.embassy.gov.au/bjng/relations2.html

http://www.census.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/[email protected]/featurearticlesbyCatalogue/618AFF5416C64078CA2573E9001016FE?OpenDocument