Playstation 3 Gets Certification in China, Ban on Gaming Consoles May Be Ending

Click to enlarge.

Sony’s (NYSE:SNE) Playstation 3 gaming console has received regulatory approval in China, it has emerged today. The ‘China Compulsory Certificate’ (CCC) document shown above is, Wikipedia informs us, “a compulsory safety mark for many products imported, sold or used in the Chinese market.” It was issued to Sony in July of this year, and is valid through to 2016. Game consoles are technically banned in China, thought they’re sold quite openly as grey-imports from other countries.

The safety certificate was spotted by a Playstation fan on the social network Sina Weibo. The veracity of the document can be checked on the official China Quality Ceritification site at CQC.com.cn.

Though this is encouraging news for gaming fans in China, it is by no means proof of Sony launching its consoles via official retail channels in China. There must be other concerns too, such as the sale-ability of pricey console games in the country, and a lack of a framework for rating games by age suitability.

China has its own home-grown games console. But its makers, the Lenovo spin-off Eedoo, don’t call it a console and instead refer to it as a home entertainment device.

[Source: @A9VG电玩部落PlayStation频道 on Sina Weibo, via @chassit on Twitter]