Shanda
Games will release Square Enix's Final Fantasy XIV in China. This is the first
game in the FF franchise to be approved for Chinese release, and it is one of
the few foreign games to be approved this year. The government has approved
more domestic than foreign games in recent years. Square Enix had offices in
Beijing for several years but pulled back it's China presence after limited
success of it's games in China, but a successful FF XIV would bring Square to a
better place in the market.
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Lenovo's
Ebox will launch in China early next year, according to Reuters and several
other accounts. It will come with 30 games built in and a set-top camera that
can detect a player's movements. Eedoo Technology, the video game unit spun off
by Lenovo. The article states that by including games in the system, Lenovo is
hoping to cut down on piracy for the console. Niko has long projected that if
and when consoles are legally sold in China, they will employ an online games
model rather than sales of packaged games, and building the games into the
system directly gives users some time before they will need to subscribe or pay
for new games. This is a topic we will watch closely, because if the government
allows the eBox without revising the regulation that currently bans console
sales, it should be considered as unfair trade. Niko has tracked illegal sales
and distribution of game consoles in China since 2003, and we are hopeful the
market will become legitimate by way of overturning that regulation.
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Registration
is now open for the 2010 Game Developers Conference China. Bill Roper from
Cryptic Studios will be delivering the keynote address. The event will also
include the second annual Independent Games Festival China. This year's
conference is December 5-7 at the Shanghai International Convention Center. This
is the 3rd year for GDC China, though not in a row. Niko will have
some presence at the show - please let us know if you will attend too.
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