Xbox One Launches In China September 23rd, Neverwinter Online Confirmed For The Console

Microsoft has confirmed that the Xbox One will launch this September 23rd in China, making it the first console officially approved for sale in the country. Other consoles have been available in China but these usually come through unofficial channels. Chinese entertainment company BesTV has teamed up with Microsoft to bring various applications that will stream movies, programming, and other items that will be exclusive to the market.

When the console launches in China consumers will get free Xbox Live Gold access until March 2015, Powerstar Golf and Neverwinter Online included, and two years warranty. This is the first confirmation that Neverwinter Online is coming to console, and though the Xbox One version is the only console version confirmed that may not be the case forever. Perfect World’s CEO Roberrt Xiao had the following to say.

“We have three studios working on Xbox games including Neverwinter OnlineCelestial Sword andProject X and we can’t wait for Xbox fans in China to get their hands on them. For the six months following Xbox One’s launch, Neverwinter Online will be available only on Xbox One. Offering unlimited possibilities to developers, the launch of Xbox One in China will help take the game development industry to a whole new level.”

While this good news for gaming fans in China this could also be good in the long term for gamers in other regions, as development studios start building up in the country which will bring new perspectives and stories to games. It’d be nice to see games created in China, and what kind of genres will be dominant in that market.

Source: Xbox.com

5 Comments

  1. Waits for Sony to announce that they’re launching the ps4 on 22nd September…

  2. A very stranger partnering. Didn’t even know Neverwinter was a thing in China.

    No doubt we’ll see it on PlayStation 4 in the near future. Would be surprising if we didn’t.

  3. It’ll be interesting to see the uptake in China for both consoles. There’s a huge potential market there but many must be living well below the means to afford ¥3500 , or $599 for a base model XB1, and presumably PS4 will be the same price.

  4. A mate of mine works in China, he was back over here to see family and buy a Wii U in May. I asked him why (and why not a PS4!), surely electronics are way cheaper there, he said the government had made it illegal to sell consoles (and that he and his Welsh flatmate adore Mario Kart). So you either go to Hong Kong or just get one back home. I wonder what Microsoft has done to get them to change or bend the rules and whether this applies to all consoles? That’s a hell of a market to crack.

  5. I wonder how the online will work with Chinas strict internet rules. Could make things quite difficult with connectivity.

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