One seller named the "Shanghai Gaming Console Store" said it suspended its business at the request of Taobao, without elaborating further.Īlibaba could not be immediately reached for comment. Other vendors keep their responses vague, citing "special reasons" for the suspended services. The games that are brought in normally lack a Chinese gaming license, which is hard to obtain even by local publishers. These products normally enter China through parallel trading, the import of legitimate goods through unauthorized channels. Many Chinese players thus resort to brick-and-mortar electronics bazaars and online marketplaces to find imported editions of PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch, along with their games.
But the grey market largely persisted because mainland Chinese versions of the consoles are subject to strict regulatory oversight, which limits users' choice to a small friendly range approved by censors. Nintendo Switch hit the Chinese shelves in 2019 via a much-anticipated partnership with Tencent, which itself is the world's largest gaming firm. When China finally lifted its restriction on consoles in 2015, giants like Sony and Microsoft quickly responded by releasing Chinese editions of their products through local partners.
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Meanwhile, the online PC and mobile gaming industry flourished, in part thanks to their affordability and the social experience built into their mechanics. Even with the ban, imported consoles still existed in the grey market targeting a group of loyal players. In 2000, China banned the sale and import of videogame consoles as concerns over addiction in teenagers grew.
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