Do you think China will be the fourth market soon?

[Pristine20]

mrstickball said:
It will take a paradigm shift in the way video game companies think, in order to penetrate the market(s).

The issue with China, and other markets that pirate, is that pirating is....Very cheap to do. Video games cost $60 USD, or equivalent in most countries, but Chinese consumers don't have that kind of disposable income on games. But they aren't adverse to gaming, so they find the cheapest medium - pirated games, or PC games.

If I was a big whig at MS, Nintendo or Sony, I would find a way to reasonably sell games in those markets, and allow them onto the various network services.

One of the interesting things in China has been the emergence of the Western movie market. Once, it was a meaningless, useless market that drew very little money into the movie companies. Tickets to Chinese movie theatres are very cheap - around 50 cents (compared to $7.05 or so in the US), so profits are very low.

But production and distribution companies have been working on improving sales. And guess what? China now has multiple movies that gross $10m in revenue, despite piracy, and every other thing. Heck, Kung Fu Panda grossed over $20m by early July! It shows that the market, given the right conditions (good movies, cheap prices) can flourish.

If video game companies are making $0 from there, why not offer games at $5-10 prices, and sell them? It would most likely combat piracy by providing the legitimate, online-allowed game at near-pirate prices...And I can guarantee that when China actually had a better, less pirating economy, you'd still have the gamers there, so when the prices go up, they can deal with them.

very good points...

I think Russia or the new USSR (if Putin suceeds) may end up as the new market before China.