China's Cultural Minister hinted that the authoritarian country may end its ban on game consoles, potentially opening up a huge new market for the Xbox 720, the PS4, and a host of other gaming devices.
"We are reviewing the policy and have conducted some surveys and held discussions with other ministries on the possibility of opening up the game console market," said an unnamed source in the Ministry of Culture.
"However, since the ban was issued by seven ministries more than a decade ago, we will need approval from all parties to lift it."
Hardware companies like Sony and Microsoft have been lobbying to remove the restrictions on their products, which they see as unfair. China has a huge gaming population, and PC games and MMORPGs are big business and big pasttimes among the growing middle class.
"The ban on game consoles hasn't dampened China's enthusiasm for gaming on PCs, especially in massively multiplayer online games," writes ArsTechnica. "There are an estimated 100 million Chinese gamers online. In fact, as of late 2011, the 3.2 million Chinese "World of Warcraft" players outnumbered the roughly 3 million playing in North America."
"Because of fears of the potential harm to the physical and mental development of the young, seven Chinese ministries collectively banned the manufacture, sale and import of game consoles in China in 2000," writes the China Daily.
Lifting the ban could also invigorate a burgeoning Chinese console industry. "Beijing Eedoo successfully launched a multimedia entertainment console in the mainland market in April last year," says the China Daily. "But the company has changed the product name several times in order to avoid sensitive issues."
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