Halo and a JD.com price drop are coming soon to China’s Xbox One

The Xbox One may have been the first console to launch in China in nearly a decade, but things haven’t been going that well for Microsoft’s gaming arm in the Middle Kingdom. The latest blow: last Friday’s China release of the competing Playstation 4, which is available at a lower price than the Xbox and which doesn’t share the Xbox’s restrictive region-locking.

But the Xbox One still has a few tricks up its sleeve. According to ads posted on JD, silver members of the ecommerce site will soon be able to pick up the Kinect-less version of the Xbox One along with two “heavyweight” games (it doesn’t specify which) for RMB 2899 (US$466). That’s the same price as the PS4, and well below the RMB 3699 list price for the Xbox One on other sites.

But perhaps more exciting than the price drop – which is only useful for JD silver members – is a timetable for the release of some upcoming games for China’s Xbox One, which has a seriously shallow pool of games at the moment. April will see five new games added to the roster, including Child of Light. May will bring three additional titles, including NBA 2K15 and Just Dance 2015. But the real star is in June, when Halo: The Master Chief Collection will be coming to China.

I have written before about the probable importance of this moment for the Chinese Xbox One. Halo has been the Xbox’s flagship franchise since the first Microsoft console, and the series has dominated games sales charts across all three of Microsoft’s console generations. It’s clear that Chinese gamers aren’t totally sold on the Xbox One, but if anybody can win them over, it’s the Master Chief. And Halo: The Master Chief Collection offers a lot of content for the money since it’s a remaster of four full-length games.

Consequently, if Halo doesn’t win over Chinese gaming fans, then it’s possible nothing will. June will be a tense month for Microsoft and its China partner BesTV. Master Chief is coming to China to finish the fight, but defeating China’s overwhelming lack of interest in console gaming might be his toughest battle yet.

(Source: Sina Games)