Crunch time for big players

Visitors check out games at the China Digital Entertainment Expo & Conference that opened in Shanghai on Thursday. TV-based games are no longer popular as players turn to smartphones and tablets for gaming needs. [Photo/China Daily]

The game was over even before it started.

Overseas video game console vendors are disappointed to see that Chinese gamers are no longer interested in toying with controllers in front of a television and would rather prefer smartphones or tablets.

It was a huge setback for Sony Corp and Microsoft Corp. The industry heavyweights that got licenses to sell PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on the Chinese mainland less than a year ago, are now disappointed to find that the party is over.

Compared to the excitement and stock price surges in 2014 when the companies announced plans to enter the previously locked Chinese market, they are now reluctant to disclose any sales figures.

About 300,000 video games compatible with PS4 or Xbox One have been sold in China since the devices were officially introduced to the country nine months ago, according to joint research by consultancy International Data Corp and the Game Publishing Commission, the largest video game industry organization in China.

The amount indicates that total console game sales were below 100 million yuan ($16 million), said the report. The downhearted performance contradicts the 21-billion-yuan half-year sales of the mobile game sector.

Worse-than-expected sales have driven a number of brick-and-mortar console game experiencing outlets out of business, it said.

"The TV-based video game market has been languishing for more than a decade, and vendors should build the sector from scratch while enduring pressure from Internet and mobile gaming sectors," said Wu Lianfeng, a special consultant to the report.

Sony and Microsoft are selling the consoles on the Chinese mainland via trade companies registered in the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone. After the regulator fully lifted bans earlier this week, the companies will have bigger freedom in terms of marketing.

Because game imports are subject to strict content examinations, however, the number of games available for players is extremely limited.

BesTV New Media Co, a Shanghai-based firm that handles PS4 and Xbox One sales, said it plans to introduce 100 new games to the platforms every year to enrich the content availability.

But such efforts are not enough to revive the moribund sector.

An IDC report said the global TV-based games market is worth $30 billion currently, and accounts for one-third of the entire video gaming industry. The sector's contribution to the Chinese gaming industry is even less.

Revenues for the industry exceeded 60 billion yuan in the first six months of the year, a 22 percent jump compared to 2014, according to Sun Shoushan, vice-minister of the industry watchdog State Administration of Press, Publication, Film and Television.

Bad sales do not indicate China has no diehard console game players. Many players have purchased illegally imported consoles long before the sales of the devices were made legal.