The Xbox One launched officially in China last month, becoming the first console to officially launch in the country in over thirteen years, following China’s lifting of the ban that prohibited sales of game consoles in the nation, and now, it seems like PlayStation wants in on the party too, and is readying its own official launch. It makes sense- the Xbox One had an unexpectedly successful launch, selling over 100,000 units (an install base Xbox is looking at increasing to a million by around this time next year), so of course Sony wants in.
According to a government filing, it seems that they are planning to crash Microsoft’s party- a Sony-affiliated factory in Shanghai’s new free-trade zone plans to start packaging PlayStation consoles starting in December. The facility is reportedly capable of handling 200,000 units per year, which is slightly low capacity compared to Microsoft’s stated plan, but should give them a base to work off of anyway.
If this happens, this round of console wars just got hotter. It should be interesting to see if PlayStation can manage a successful launch in China as well, or if Xbox has an interminable headstart.