Sm4ckd0wn said:
Bodhesatva said:
klydwntelos said:
You are totally wrong for two major reasons.
The first is that China is a poor country compared to the EU, Japan, and especially America. The average American is about 6 times wealthier than the average Chinese citizen, so it's unlikely that China has much disposable income to spend on video games. If you're interested, you can check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita .
Second, piracy is a huge problem in China. The government basically only enforces intellectual property rights when it is convenient. That's why you get hilarious knock-offs like the "Vii:" http://www.techybytes.com/the-vii-chinas-answer-to-the-wii/.
That's why nobody currently bothers to try to sell console games in China. |
You pretty much have no idea what you're talking about, other than that piracy is a big problem there. The notion that no one in China can afford a console is pretty amazingly contradicted by the fact that more people play WoW in China (3.8 million) than do in the US (2.7 million). Meaning the online, PC gaming community is at least as big in China as it is in the US, if not bigger. Explain to me, please, how a country that supposedly can't support a 250 dollar console can support high level online PC gaming -- and support it better than the United States, no less? |
With all things considered, you're comparing the American population (which is roughly 300 million people) to the Chinese population (roughly 1.8 billion people). |
As others have said, how does that change anything I'm saying at all? Regardless of raw population size, the point is that the high end PC gaming market (with online connectivity, no less) in China is almost certainly as big as that in America, if not larger. If that's true, why would we assume that they're incapable of supporting a console market, as well? Perhaps they will choose not to support a gaming console -- because it doesn't suit their tastes -- but I'd say it's fairly clear that they're capable of supporting the market on a purely economic level.
Simple example: if 10 million Wiis could be sold in China over the next 5 years, would it matter to Nintendo that the total population is 1.2 billion and not 11 million? No, it would not.
