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After a fifteen-year-long ban, China’s gamers will soon be able to freely obtain console games across the country. MMORPG developers might have to step up their game.
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What the end of China’s ban on console games means for MMORPGs

After a fifteen-year-long ban, China’s gamers will soon be able to freely obtain console games across the country. MMORPG developers might have to step up their game.
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Sam Yoo
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Published: Jul 27, 2015 04:02 pm

This article is over 9 years old and may contain outdated information

China’s Ministry of Culture announced last week that they will be officially lifting the ban that had heavily restricted the manufacture and sales of games for both foreign and domestic console makers for the past fifteen years.

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Despite the ban, China has one of the largest gaming markets in the world, with a worth of about $13 billion in 2013.

Since they are prohibited from playing console games, China’s gamers (which Newzoo games market research estimates number about 173.4 million) are consequently big fans of mobile games and PC games.  The massive multi-player online role-playing games (MMORPG) such as League of Legends and Dragon’s Sword Online (made by China-based NetEase Games) are especially popular.

While these numbers are expected to only increase now that the restrictions on consoles have been lifted, it does mean that online gaming companies as well as home-grown console makers like Eedoo, will have to compete with against the likes of Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft from now on.

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china
mmorpg
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Sam Yoo
I'm here, I'm queer, and I'm very tired.