Chinese Players Continue to Enter the Video Game Industry

Google’s Android operating system has been a key factor in the growing trend of the increase in video gaming consoles within the gaming market. According to the WSJ, Chinese players are entering this burgeoning market, launching affordable micro-consoles that let people download and play games in living rooms. The article indicates ZTE Corp., a telecommunications equipment supplier that also makes smartphones recently launched a joint venture with Chinese video game company The9 for its new micro-console called the FunBox which retails for $112.

Mobile Commerce Press / Google

Chinese consumers are clearly mobile and online. Consumer electronic services are very widespread and China is significant in its e-commerce and social media. Consumers are very willing to shop online. Challenges still arise in China in its talent shortage of technology workers. The demand is clearly there for China requiring more jobs. Millions of jobs and online areas are lagging. Government faces pressures to improve performance and efficiency.

The article also highlighted how Huawei unveiled the Tron, a cylindrical-shaped console that, like FunBox, runs on a version of Android and comes with Nvidia’s Tegra 4 processor. Huawei plans to start selling the Tron in the second quarter in China. Huawei hasn’t announced the console’s exact price, but it will likely cost less than 1,000 yuan ($160), according to the company. Chinese technology firms are seeing a big opportunity in China’s video game market. According to Huawei, China has about 400 million people who play video games.

The Ouya console is one of the most prominent companies within the market. Ouya’s microconsole has reached over 500 games through its Discover storefront. The downloaded games met a milestone after it was announced by Ouya founder Julie Uhrman on the company blog that more than 25,000 developers were registered. 2013 was a fantastic year for gaming hardware. Game industry console revenues are expected to rise throughout this year. Ouya also is set to release a new hardware revision for next year.

Game consoles were banned in 2000 to protect youths from a perceived corrupting influence, a move that was temporarily lifted this month. According to Bloomberg, China’s Ministry of Culture, one of the government bodies that monitors media content, will be responsible for drafting new rules on video-game consoles after a 14-year-old ban was lifted. The rules will be written as soon as possible, Cai Wu, the head of the ministry, stated.