Report: PS4 could come to China this year, and without region-locking

We know exactly when the Xbox One is coming to China and we know it’ll be region-locked. But despite the fact that China’s console ban has been gone for some time now, Sony has been a bit quieter about its plans to unleash the PS4 on the Middle Kingdom. Until now, anyway.

According to a widely-followed games writer on Weibo, Sony’s PS4 China tsar Soeda Takehito has said that if things go well, the PS4 could be released in China within the year, and that Sony will do their best to avoid region-locking it. Of course, both of those things—the release date and the region locking—may be mostly in the hands of Chinese government officials, who will have to approve the console before it can be legally sold.

Soeda Takehito

If the console doesn’t make this year, Takehito apparently said that Sony is targeting the Spring Festival holiday (which falls in late February next year) as another possible launch window.

He also apparently said that Sony is considering bringing in the Vita as well, and that Sony would do its best to make sure the PS4 and its games meet local standards in terms of pricing (i.e., they aren’t too expensive).

Of course, none of this is confirmed and Sony’s plans could certainly change between now and the end of the year, so take all this with a pinch of salt. But it sounds like Chinese gamers might be getting their hands on official PS4s before the Nian monster rings in the year of the sheep.

(Weibo via Sina Games)