It's not gonna happen.  Your argument doesn't apply to DVD sales, it only applies to movie theatres.  It's the same here in Korea, movie theatre tickets sell but DVDs do not.  DVD prices are way cheaper than in America, but people still don't buy it because the pirated versions are cheaper and widely available.  People go to movie theatres because it's a place to go with their girlfriend or friends, it's a social experience.  I'm not sure how you can apply this to video game sales, even if the games are $10 people in China are gonna buy the pirated versions if they are cheaper.

they would never make any money on the games pluss everyone would just import games from China if they are selling that cheap.

I agree with the first statement though i cant say much about MMO's ...

Well WoW is big everywhere no doubt but there are dozens of private servers in china for WoW

As for MMO's, if you become a big hit you become a target for the hackers who wanna make money by making bots, hacks and whatnot, this will then piss of the players and you can see your game die out

RMT is a very lucrative business in asia

it could,but i dont think it will happen soon

not until chinese ppl know what is the piracy.

Isn't it already the country with the 4th biggest market? I can only think of US, UK and Japan being bigger than China, and should pass Japan soon in a very near future (2-3 years), to be the biggest market in Asia.

China is a online PC gaming Country, just like South Korea. PC makes billions in China, while consoles probably can't reach $200 million in software.

Here's an article:

Online game revenue to hit $2.5 billion in 2008; console sales rose by 75% in 2007.

Official Press Release | May 2, 2008

Niko Partners, the leading market intelligence firm on China's video game industry, today announced results from its latest report citing China's 46 million gamers spent $1.7 billion on online games in 2007, up 71% from 2006. Advanced casual and casual online games made up 21% of the total, and new flash-based casual versions of popular MMO and RTS games demonstrated the hardcore gamers' appetite to play casual games along with subscription MMOs. Online revenue is expected to reach $2.5 billion in 2008 and $6 billion in 2012, for a 29% compound annual growth rate in the five-year period.

"China's spending on games is up thanks to their booming economy," said Lisa Cosmas Hanson, managing partner of Niko Partners. "14 million hardcore Chinese gamers play online games more than 22 hours per week. They play online, LAN, and single-player offline PC games in China's 185,000 Internet cafés and increasingly on their PCs at home, thanks to falling prices and higher disposable income."

According to Niko's 6th Annual Review & Forecast Report, part of an annual subscription of reports for publishers, hardware makers, service providers, and investors who need to understand China's fast-moving video game industry, gamers are buying consoles with their disposable income as well. "In spite of the regulation that has banned the sale of game consoles in China since the year 2000, gamers are flocking to stores that sell illegally imported Wii, Xbox 360, PS3 and PS2 machines to take part in the excitement of console gaming," said Hanson. "While these consoles are expensive for the average Chinese consumer, gamers are willing to spend money on them to supplement their online gaming experience, and unit sales hit 2.48 million units in 2007, up 75% over 2006."

Piracy remains an issue for packaged software via digital downloads and counterfeit copies of games, but legitimate sales of packaged offline PC games surged 56% in 2007, over 2006. Chinese gamers are showing that they like to buy the legitimate copies to ensure quality and to get customer support.

http://www.gamespy.com/articles/871/871244p1.html

I did not know selling consoles is banned in China. But online PC revenue is huge (71% increase), and even traditional PC retail increased 56%.

All I know is that with our current setup at VGC in 10-20 yrs Europe/Other will be around 70% of the market.... like it should be haha considering the population advantage. Sooner or later I think we'll split it up Americas, Europe, and Asia/Other. Japan just can't be its own market anymore. About 7-8 yrs Japan used to be about 15%-20% of the market. Possibly higher in the times of SNES and GB. But since the PS and GB brand have expanded so much outside the Japanese market percentage wise keeps getting smaller until it will eventually be less than 10% of the market.

But no China will not be a 4th market. China won't become a huge market until the piracy issues are solved. Otherwise regular products won't be able to compete as well.

yes.
less transport fees (already made in china or nearby)
able to make money on quantity. companies willing to combat piracy with cheaper products. undermine the pirates first, then edge them out later.

The Indian market is almost the same, with an X360 game coming as expensive as 2500 INR. To put things into perspective, thats 1/8th of the average indian salary. Pirated games, on the other hand,cost 100 INR,ridiculously affordable.
So unless someone is making some serious big bucks,he wont even think about buying original games or consoles in India.
The sad truth is, in a big country like India or China,anti-piracy laws cannot be implemented perfectly

No. Inorder to be profitable, the games have to be PC MMOs and have a subscription type payment. Consoles are all modded and non MMO PC games are played online via QQ. That's how I saw it when I visited family 1 month ago.