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SONY WILL BRING its PlayStation consoles to China through two joint ventures, the Japanese gaming giant and its Chinese partner both said Monday, as they seek to tap a newly opened market.
China in January formally authorised the domestic sale of game consoles made in its first free trade zone (FTZ) in Shanghai, opening up a market with an estimated 500 million players to foreign companies including Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo.
Shanghai-listed tourism and culture firm Oriental Pearl said it would set up two joint ventures with Sony in the FTZ, one for hardware and one to handle software and services, according to a statement filed to the stock exchange.
Sony will take a 49 per cent stake in one venture and a majority 70 per cent in the other, the statement said, to make and market PlayStation consoles and related software in China.
Sony confirmed the announcement separately in an email to AFP.
Despite the news, Oriental Pearl stock closed down 0.54 per cent on Monday. Sony shares ended up 3.12 per cent in Tokyo trading.
The ventures will help introduce “quality and healthy” gaming products to Chinese players, the Oriental Pearl statement said, one of the requirements of authorities for selling in China.
Some foreign industry officials fear that such regulatory approval – conceivably to censor game content which China deems too violent, obscene or politically sensitive – could be used as a potential trade barrier.
Competitor Microsoft said in late April that it will start offering its Xbox One game console in China from September through a joint venture in the FTZ.
The relaxation of the decade-long sales ban does not apply to console imports, though the devices are already widely available through unofficial sales channels after being smuggled into China.
China’s game revenue jumped 38 percent year-on-year to 83.2 billion yuan in 2013, according to one industry estimate, although the market was dominated by online computer games.
Analysts say Chinese consumers are unlikely to want to pay high prices for foreign consoles and authorised software, especially if it is slow coming to the market.
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Once should be put on first plane out of country once finished his time
@KevinMunster: Racist because he wants a thug deported. Are you for real
@KevinMunster: What is racist about deporting the bad bollix.
@Celtic_Horizon: should be thrown out of the plane over the Atlantic you mean ,but dont let the bleeding heart nut jobs know
@Ciaran Kehoe: Racist are you fu€k!ng kidding me. Your talking to irish man born in uk who has lived in usa. And believe me I have gotten more greaf from my own kin than I did from brits or yanks. But lets be clear I believe that anyone that isn’t irish causing trouble should be kicked out as I do any Irish living in other countries, if they are booted out should be sent home although if there plane found it’s plane landed in Siberia it wouldn’t be worst thing to happen. Toss pot
@Celtic_Horizon: sorry aimed at KevinMunster
Who could have predicted a man with multiple previous convictions in multiple different countries would commit crime in our country? Keep that door open! #criminalswelcome
Nothing works better than a ‘warning shot’ straight into the mush.
@Paul Culligan: You honestly couldnt make it up, think of the amount of money this investiagation cost the state after a shaky garda with a gun!
@Paul Culligan: He probably sang like a canary after that.
Freedom of movement seems to have as many minuses as advantages..hard to believe criminal gangs can move about Europe so freely
@Kieran OKeeffe: freedom of movement ensures the easy Islamisation ,whatever percentage of Muslims involved ,of the west. Don’t believe me ? Check out western Europe today and the census
@ Kieran this has f*ck all to do with Islam! Gee you must see Islam in everything, this article is about ram raiders… Did you need read the article?
Stop hyping up the threat of Islamic extremism, it’s all hype and the media are just as much to blame for hyping it up and the extremists themselves
With several prior convictions for theft in Holland and Norway, how or why was he ever allowed into Ireland? Seriously searching for an answer to this simple question.
How about a worldwide rule that criminals are not allowed to travel?
It would help to stop people making the choice to become a criminal.
@Scundered: He wouldn’t get into Australia or Canada anyway based on the border security shows I’ve seen.
Likewise he probably wouldn’t get into the uk once they brexit and start to pull up the plank..
How do you weigh a car with a concrete block? :/
5 year jail sentence, out in 3 for good behaviour. More nonsense from Tom O’Donnell, another joke of a judge.
Euthanasia is the answer to this guy!
I didn’t know trannies and cross dressers were so desperate to get their fix.
GET RID OF HIM
have your say