Microsoft said to launch Xbox Series X game console in China next year after getting certified
- The US tech giant was recently granted separate safety certifications by mainland regulators for two unnamed game consoles
- Getting one more certification, from the Ministry of Culture, is expected to pave the way for the domestic release of the Xbox Series X and Series S
The US tech giant received a China Compulsory Certificate, also known as the 3C mark, from the Certification and Accreditation Administration of the People’s Republic of China. The 3C mark is the official safety authorisation for products imported, sold or used on the mainland. That followed a separate 3C mark granted to the company for an unnamed console in June this year.
Analysts indicated that these certifications point to the imminent launch of the Xbox Series X, along with its lower-grade variant the Xbox Series S, in the world’s largest video games market. Sales of the two new game consoles started on November 10 in many markets around the world. The mainland was not among the launch countries.
“We currently expect the Xbox Series X to launch in the first half of 2021,” said Daniel Ahmad, senior analyst at game consultancy Niko Partners. Microsoft still needs to secure a separate certification from the Ministry of Culture before its flagship console is released in China, he added.
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An Xbox representative on Wednesday said the company has no further information to share with the public.
Disruptions to production caused by the coronavirus pandemic are also expected to result in near-term supply chain constraints for the new Xbox series and PS5 consoles, ahead of a wide release in China.
“We don’t expect the gap between Xbox and PS5 to be too significant in terms of launch date,” Niko Partners’ Ahmad said.
Still, the projected late release of the new Xbox and PS5 devices in China next year would mark significant progress for the domestic console gaming market. For nearly 15 years from 2000, console gaming was officially banned on the mainland because of regulators’ concerns over the negative influence of console games’ content on the country’s youth.
The first home consoles officially approved by Beijing were the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4, which were launched in September 2014 and March 2015, respectively. These consoles were already available elsewhere around the world from November 2013.
China’s stringent regulatory process, however, has limited the number of games approved for domestic consumption. Most console players also prefer buying foreign versions of games from the grey market, rather than the official China versions.
“In a year you can only expect around 30 console games to be approved across the board,” Ahmad said. Despite that situation, the backward compatibility feature of the Xbox Series X and Series S ensures that these consoles have “an existing library of approved games that can be played at launch” on the mainland, he said.
