The statement orders all online games in the region to not provide online services to minors during other hours, even on a guest account. Those refusing to comply with these rules and regulations will be dealt with in an official capacity, according to the original statement.

This comes after China imposed certain restrictions on online gaming in 2019, which prohibited minors from logging on to online games after 10pm. Many video game companies seem to be fed up with this increased strictness, and giants such as Tencent and NetEase have been continually looking out for partnerships and opportunities to create products with a global demand.

Currently, the Nintendo Switch is not available in China, though the company has stated an interest in launching the console officially in the market if it can. While the Switch does support the Chinese language, and is even available for sale in Hong Kong, the mainland market remains inaccessible to it.

That said, Nintendo is probably very close to getting government approval to launch the system there. According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, Nintendo has partnered with Tencent, who have filed a report on Nintendo’s behalf, and the Switch was approved during the approval window of March 5 to Match 18, 2019. Beyond the confirmation of this filing, neither Nintendo nor Tencent have issued any official comment, nor is a launch actually announced yet, though it’s unlikely that either company would have bothered to file for an approval at all if that weren’t going to happen sooner rather than later.

Presuming Nintendo and Tencent do sell the Switch in China, the addressable market for the console would become far larger, leading to potentially higher sales—though as of right now, China has yet to be a meaningful factor in worldwide console sales. If it does happen though, hopefully Nintendo gets Nintendo Switch Online running there first.

Nintendo Switch Online, Nintendo’s paid online service for the Nintendo Switch, is now live, but it looks like some people are having trouble with it. As in all of China— though in this case, the problem might not be Nintendo (for once).

YouTube channel Chinese Nintendo reports that Chinese players are facing connection errors and black screen failures when they attempt to play games online. Why is this happening? Well, as it turns out, Nintendo Switch Online may be using Google’s servers, and, well, Google is banned in China. Since Google can’t be accessed behind the Great Firewall of China, connection errors for Chinese players are also occurring as a result.

For now, that’s all we know, but presumably, this is something Nintendo will have to act on quickly. While Google has plans to return to the Chinese market by succumbing to the local government’s demands for censorship and information control, until that happens, Nintendo can’t afford to be offering busted online services to its Chinese base. Maybe quickly partner up with a local provider for China-specific servers?

After Nintendo Switch Online membership officially rolled out yesterday, many Chinese gamers have suffered with black screens and connection failures in Splatoon 2 and MK8D.
Tests have shown that it is probably due to the introduction of Google-based servers. pic.twitter.com/ePny5ogZrD

— Chinese Nintendo (@chinesenintendo) September 21, 2018

When something gets successful in the industry, there are two things that are assured: a) that other games inspired by its success will follow in its wake, and b) a shameless, almost 1:1 Chinese knock-off of it will definitely be made. PUBG has already seen some of the former occur with Epic Games creating a new PUBG inspired battle royale mode for Fortnite. And now, it is seeing some of the latter.

Check out this brand new footage of a mobile game being made in China, courtesy of Reddit- keep in mind this thing is running on a mobile. As you will see, it is an almost literal clone of PUBG, down to the UI. You will notice, for some reason, that this game seems to star the Terminator (yes, that one) in it? He shows up randomly near the end of the video.

It’s kind of cool that a game of this nature and scope is running on mobile phones- hopefully someone in the west either makes an authorized port of PUBG, or another battle royale game for phones, too. It seems like the kind of thing that could take off.

PUBG mobile game from China
byu/llllghye inPUBATTLEGROUNDS

Microsoft’s Xbox One is a pretty progressive console with its region lock, in that there is none- any game bought anywhere can be run on any console from anywhere, and the Xbox live storefront is universal across regions.

The elephant in the room, the one exception to all of this, is China- you see, the Xbox One, in order to comply with local Chinese regulations, is uniquely region locked in China. Chinese Xbox One consoles will only run content bought within China, either physically or digitally.

This has been a huge disadvantage for the console in the market, especially in the face of the fact that Sony’s PlayStation 4 has somehow been able to avoid the same region lock (you would think local regulations would apply to all consoles equally), making it a far more attractive product on this front (and indeed, in general, given the scarcity of new game releases in the Chinese market).

But now, it appears, a new firmware update for the console in the region is similarly breaking the region lock– users throughout the country are reporting that a new firmware update that went live yesterday removed the lock, although there has been no official word from either Microsoft or its local distributors regarding the matter.

Assuming this is true, kudos to Microsoft for being swift with their response to the problem, as always. The question now is, is this, like all their other Xbox One related maneuvers, too little, too late? Is the perception of the Xbox One as a region locked console indelibly embedded into the Chinese mainstream consciousness?

Guess we’ll find out.

After the inexplicable last minute delay, it appears that PlayStation is ready to join Xbox in an attempted conquest of the Chinese gaming market- PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita will both be launching in China on March 20.

We still don’t actually know what caused the delay, and there is no note or press release that suggests that there is any change in Sony’s initial plans (such as keeping PlayStation region free in China).

What we do know is the launch lineup for both systems in the country:

PS4

• DYNASTY WARRIORS 8: Xtreme Legends Complete Edition
• King of WuShu：Free Early Access Edition
• KNACK
• Mr.Pumpkin Adventure
• Rayman Legends
• Trials Fusion

PS Vita

• DYNASTY WARRIORS 8: Xtreme Legends Complete Edition
• Farming Simulator 14
• FINAL FANTASY X HD Remaster
• FINAL FANTASY X-2 HD Remaster
• One Tap Hero
• Rayman Legends
• TOUKIDEN-KIWAMI

Okay, so that… sucks, honestly. It looks like PlayStation will suffer from the same content problem that has been plaguing Xbox One since its launch in China last September (due to local censorship laws, it is assumed). At least the Vita gets Toukiden and Final Fantasy.

Speaking of Vita, here is how much the Memory Cards will cost:

• 8 GB: 120 Yuan ($19)
• 16 GB: 220 Yuan ($35)
• 32 GB: 380 Yuan ($61)
• 64 GB: 600 Yuan ($96)

Which sounds pretty much in line with the rest of the world.

Stay tuned to GamingBolt for more coverage.

A ban on the sale of game consoles in China that had lasted for over a decade was finally broken late last year, as the Chinese government announced that game consoles would be officially permitted to be sold in China as long as they followed certain rules and regulations. These rules included the expected censorship and content governance rules, of course – it’s China – but there were also other rules, rules capping the maximum number of units that could be sold, rules limiting where they could be sold or manufactured.

Today, the Chinese government announced that it was easing up on those rules. Consoles can now be manufactured and sold across the country without restrictions, not just in Free Trade Zones (such as Shanghai), as was originally required. This should come as a relief to both Sony and Microsoft (Nintendo has not yet announced any plans to sell its consoles in the country), as this expands the market that they can reach.

As of right now, the Xbox One is the only console selling in the region- it had a very successful launch, but then slowed down, due to a dearth of content, and local content issues. The PlayStation 4 and PS Vita were both due to launch there earlier this month, but the launch was delayed at the last minute without any explanation provided, and no new release date has yet been announced.

We’ll keep you posted.

Call of Duty may not be available on consoles in China, thanks to the Chinese government’s harsh censorship policies, but the world’s largest gaming brand still has a pretty notable presence there, thanks to Call of Duty Online, a free to play online shooter that is a spin off of the main Call of Duty series.

The game, which Activision distributes in conjunction with Tencent, a giant internet service provider and game publisher in China, is developed by Raven Software, and is now finally available to everyone in China, since it has now entered open beta.

“Millions of gamers in the West have come to appreciate that white-knuckled, epic thrill-ride that only Call of Duty delivers. And now an entire new audience of gamers will experience this for the first time. We believe Call of Duty Online is going to be a game-changer for Chinese gamers,” said Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg.

“Throughout testing, the community feedback has been tremendous. We couldn’t be more excited and we look forward to winning the hearts and minds of a new community in China.”

Let’s see if Call of Duty takes the Chinese market by storm like it did western markets.

This is sort of a trend at this point- at the last possible minute, it appears that the official Chinese launch of the PlayStation 4 has been delayed. If you will remember, this seems to echo what happened with the Xbox One last year a week before its launch, when it was inexplicably delayed, indefinitely, we were told, before an announcement just a week later that it was back on track to launch in the country.

As with the Xbox One, it appears that the issue with the launch of the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita in the country are issues with Chinese authorities that have still not been negotiated, according to Reuters.

Both consoles were originally due to launch in the country on January 11, but as of right now, we don’t have a new release date, and Sony has refused to give us one.

Gosh, you’d think these companies would get important issues like getting clearances from the government out of the way before they announced a launch for their products.

Microsoft’s Xbox One became the first console to legally launch in China in over a decade earlier this year, and to begin with, it seemed to have hit gold, as it was, by all accounts, a success there. But that was only to begin with, and recent sales reports have the console’s momentum and sales in the region faltering.

Possibly to avoid the kind of market situation that Xbox consoles face in the Japanese market all too often, it appears Microsoft is already taking action. Nikkei reports that Microsoft will step up its sales campaign for the console in the country, seeking to further capitalize on its head start over Sony’s PlayStation 4 console, which will launch in the country later this month.

Among the various things Microsoft is doing to allure buyers, it is increasing the number of stores with playable kiosks, and expanding the range of products and services that it is offering to the Chinese market.

Whether or not these initiatives bear dividends is something that remains to be seen, but let’s hope that it all works out. I’d like for a competitive Chinese market with all consoles fiercely vying for supremacy.