Consoles may no longer be banned in China, but there are still troubles ahead

Locals in China refer to its infamous console ban as “thirteen frozen years”, measuring it by the start of the ban in 2000 to the opening of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone in 2013. Others prefer to call it the “revival after a decade”, counting from the Playstation 2’s fumbled Chinese launch in 2004 to the Xbox One’s upcoming release in 2014. Either way, these are not small stretches of time—and Chinese gaming culture has never been the same since.

(See: Cultural differences: How China’s games console ban has affected its gaming culture)

But despite the decade-or-more of disconnect between gaming culture in China and the rest of the world, things appear to be looking up. The Free Trade Zone has paved a way into the country for foreign consoles, and this has given companies reason to begin localizing their games for the mainland. And boy, are they keen to get a slice of the world’s biggest gaming market. While the PS2 had a mere three localized titles at the first ever Chinajoy, the Xbox One this year boasted more than ten.

(See: Xbox One coming to China this September)

“The wait will be over this year,” Xbox China’s general manager Enwei Xie declared in April. Microsoft is understandably soaking up the goodwill that comes with being the first foreign company to launch a new console in China in years. But government officials have been quick to temper expectations. Ministry of Culture head Cai Wu stated earlier this year:

Things that are hostile to China, or not in conformity with the outlook of China’s government, won’t be allowed… We want to open the window a crack to get some fresh air, but we still need a screen to block the flies and mosquitoes.

What exactly constitutes “flies and mosquitoes” is really the issue here. It’s true that other countries have had their problems with overzealous certification boards (notably Germany and Australia). But China is the country where those at the wheel of cultural control criticize even the children’s show Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf for featuring objectionable content.

The offending “vulgar and violent” cartoon

Foreign films and TV shows suffer under regulations that limit the number of properties that enter the country each year. With the Ministry of Culture still ironing out legislation to cover console gaming, we can hope that these rules skew closer to the comparative freedom enjoyed by PC titles.

The government’s obsession with rooting out negative influences on young people is what got consoles banned in the first place. Given the perceived strictness of the censors, companies such as Blizzard go to great lengths to make sure their games see release in China. It’s not unlikely that foreign console titles will be subject to similar conditions.

(See: China releases censorship rules for console games, and there are a lot of them)

Domestic developer Perfect World announced at Chinajoy that it would be supporting the Xbox One. It will have Neverwinter Online available at launch, and is also working on Celestial Sword and Project X for the system. Games developed domestically in China have a far better chance of navigating the country’s labyrinthine censorship laws. However, these titles have historically not fared well outside of China, and the vast majority of domestic titles never make it overseas.

Between some domestic titles likely not making it out of the region, and foreign titles potentially limited in quantity and content, the Xbox One’s library in China might end up looking quite different to its Western equivalent. The repealing of the console ban is certainly a step forward—but there’s a long journey ahead before the troubles end for Chinese console gamers.