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Forums - Nintendo Discussion - WSJ: Nintendo Surges on Prospect of Access to China

RaptorChrist on 20 September 2017

I'm not well informed on the subject, but why is it so hard for corporations to get their gaming systems into China? Does China not allow it? And if they were to get Switch into China, is this the sort of thing where console sales for the generation would be massively impacted (i.e., 200 million instead of maybe 100 million). How big is the market?



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caffeinade on 20 September 2017
twintail said:
Darwinianevolution said:

Importing and buying from other regions can only get them so far. If the console was in every possible store instead of having to go to Hong Kong to get it, the market for it would expand exponentially. Plus, if a console isn't officially released in a region, Nintendo can't advertise it there.

You are right that having Switches sold locally would obviously be better for Nintendo.

But you underestimate the current avenues of getting a Switch in China. You can find them in stores if you know where to look. Chinese gamers know where to look since this has been part of their gaming culture for many years. 

You can get them easily online off Chinese online stores. And since online shopping is incredibly massive in China (they did $14 billion USD on a single day before, $17billion a year later) that getting hold of a Switch is incredibly easy. Took me all of 30 seconds to find the MH bundle on a chinese site for purchase. 

The avenues are there. Local selling will obviously give the product more presence, but its incredibly debatable that it will be instantly successful. 

Does Nintendo have ads in China?
What is the gaming maket like there, (apart from PC and Mobile) what genres are popular?

I think Nintendo could do very well China, but I don't know the culture and environment there.



pokoko on 20 September 2017
RaptorChrist said:
I'm not well informed on the subject, but why is it so hard for corporations to get their gaming systems into China? Does China not allow it? And if they were to get Switch into China, is this the sort of thing where console sales for the generation would be massively impacted (i.e., 200 million instead of maybe 100 million). How big is the market?

That market in China is massive ... but it's not on home console.  It's on PC and mobile.  Piracy is also very wide-spread, reinforcing PC's dominance.

Western companies are learning that the large populations in places like China and India don't really translate into money the same way as in the west.  This is good for Nintendo, certainly, but the market is just being reactionary as usual.  Expansion into China probably won't have much of an impact on the bottom line in the near future.



Platina on 20 September 2017

iirc, the Xbox One did well when it launched in China so maybe the Switch can as well

It really depends on marketing and price, but I think it will fair well in the long run



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AngryLittleAlchemist on 20 September 2017
abronn627 said:
AngryLittleAlchemist said:
How is China one of the biggest gaming markets if it's a secondary concern for Nintendo?

More importantly how can China be important at all if they're not tracked on VGChartz

China's market was closed to foreign console manufacturers from 2000 to 2015.



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Shootdatrupee on 21 September 2017
AngryLittleAlchemist said:
abronn627 said:

China's market was closed to foreign console manufacturers from 2000 to 2015.

Video game consoles were banned in 2000s because of fears that video games had negative mental effects, especially on children(there were probably some censorship and control issues too); even today there's a lot of negative social stigma and controversy regarding gamers and video game addiction in China(gamers dying in internet cafes, children failing education due to playing too much, people going to extreme lengths for premium currency, etc.).

Nevertheless, the recent rise of PC and mobile gaming has made the point of restricting video games via banning home consoles moot and somewhat economically non-sensical, so the ban was lifted.