The news of the Xbox One launch price last week was met with a surprising level of positivity from China’s gamer community. The reason, in part, was that although Microsoft hadn’t announced anything, some e-commerce sites were advertising the system would not be region locked.
But those ads have since been revised, and Microsoft China VP Xie Enwei made it very clear that the console and its games will be totally region locked.
Specifically, according to Sina Games, Xie said that Chinese Xbox One games will not be playable on other Xbox One consoles. Similarly, Xbox One games and apps from other regions cannot be downloaded or run on the official Chinese Xbox One.
In other words, Chinese gamers who’ve already purchased an imported Xbox One will need to buy a new console if they want to play any of console’s official China titles. Similarly, Chinese gamers who were hoping to import foreign Xbox titles to play on their official Chinese Xbox Ones are out of luck.
That may be bad news for Chinese gamers, but it’s likely good news for the gray market vendors of imported Xbox One consoles, which are likely to remain in demand so that China’s console gamers have access to popular foreign games like Grand Theft Auto (which have virtually no chance of getting government approval and seeing an official domestic release).
(via Sina Games)
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