Gamers everywhere watched the press conferences at E3 with bated breath last monday, as Microsoft and Sony duked it out in front of millions of people to see which console would come out the victor in the next generation. According to Chinese gamers, who live in a country where consoles are illegal, it was a no-contest victory for Sony. While consoles are illegal there, they aren’t exactly hard to come across, but some of Microsoft’s policies make it hard to warrant buying the Xbox One.
The requirement to connect to the Internet once every 24 hours makes it incredibly difficult to allow players in China to even play single player games, as Microsoft won’t have servers in China. This essentially kills off the market in China. The PS4 will use the same disc based system that is par for the course on consoles, and won’t require a connection to the server to use, giving Sony a distinct advantage. In addition, the PS4 is $100 cheaper than the Xbox One. Combined with the difficulty of getting online, that makes the PS4 an early frontrunner in the war for the living room in China.
Although consoles are technically illegal in China, they are easy to acquire. Estimates are that the Xbox 360 alone has sold 2-3 million units in China; not bad for something that’s illegal to sell. It’s not clear if China will ever lift the ban on consoles, but certainly console makers would love to see that market open up to them.
Source: Techinasia
