Sony's move Following Microsoft's announcement, Sony announced on April 1 that its Sony Computer Entertainment branch -- the department that manages the PlayStation brand -- will be expanding into China.
With China being at the forefront of emerging markets, it will play a vital role in Sony's comeback. Kazuo Hirai, president and CEO of Sony, said China "has growth potential that far exceeds that of the United States and Japan." According to Sony China President Nobuki Kurita, sales of major Sony products increased by more than 40%, year over year, during last year's National Day sales season.
Why you shouldn't be excited yet While consoles had been banned for more than 13 years in China, it hasn't been hard for consumers to find stores at their local shopping mall littered with consoles from previous generations, as well as even the two latest consoles, the Xbox One and PlayStation 4.
Even with their availability, Consoles are estimated to have only accounted for $15 million of the $13.75 billion the Chinese spent on gaming in 2013. The bulk of the market belonged to client-based PC games, which accounted for 64.5% -- 8.87 billion -- of the revenue. The second-largest market belonged to browser-based games, which accounted for 13.5% -- 1.86 billion. Coming in at third, social games accounted for $890 million.
The Foolish bottom line It's hard to measure what impact this might have in the long run, but given how the Chinese market has grown into a $13.75 billion industry when consoles only account for a dismal $15 million, it's not hard to imagine the PlayStation 4 or the Xbox One making an impact in the short term.
With China's gaming market having grown 38%, year over year, in 2013 -- and with analysts estimating 2014 revenues of $17.61 billion, a 28% gain over the $13.75 billion from 2013 -- there might be real potential in the long run.
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