China is experiencing a boom in mobile gaming and the continuing success of PC gaming. Since China lifted its ban on consoles, Microsoft has begun shipping the Xbox One, and the PlayStation 4 is coming soon. As if that’s not enough ways for Chinese to play games, another competitor could soon enter the fray – Alibaba.

Niko Partners has reported that the Chinese eCommerce giant, who usually deals in mobile circles, is hard at work on a high-end game console that could very well be as powerful – or even more so – than Sony and Microsoft’s current models.

The company has denied that such a system is in the works, but Lisa Cosmas Hanson, the managing director for Niko, explains that she heard the details through a very credible source, indicating that it’s on track to release sometime early next year.

This could be a tremendous move for the Chinese gaming market, which is in the midst of an upswing following the lift of a 15-year ban for consoles in the country. Both Microsoft and Sony have swiftly retaliated, with the Xbox One already available and the PlayStation 4 and Vita heading that way early next year.

However, Alibaba has more potential for success, since it’s a more mainstream name in the country with its mobile offerings. For good measure, if it could find a way to utilize Android technology into its system, it could easily use a number of its applications and games at launch.

“They have been talking to developers about potentially getting content, some of it domestically developed to avoid the headaches of foreign game content rules yet there are of course domestic content rules too,” explained Hanson.

The company has made some tremendous moves this year, raising $25 billion from its eCommerce business alone, as well as investing $120 million in Kabam and releasing a number of Western titles on the market, including Angry Birds: Stella from Rovio. Now it’s just a matter of time before it could possibly conquer the console market as well. Will Alibaba then look to bring this console to other countries as well The company has vast resources, and an ambition to match. This could make an impact in 2015… we’ll be keeping an eye on it.