It's finally official! The Nintendo Switch is finally going to be released to China. This was made possible by a partnership Nintendo entered into with Tencent. It's not going to be a long wait as well, with the Switch expected to go on Sale in China next week on December 10. It will be priced at around $297.
That's not to say that the Switch has no presence in China already. It does, but not officially. It was back in April when it was reported that Tencent received preliminary approval to distribute the Switch. However, at that time it was still subject to different conditions like requiring a public consultation.
According to a report by CNN, the Switch is expected to encounter a hard climb in China. This is despite the support from Tencent. The main reason is that while consoles are popular in some countries, the dominant gaming platform in China remains to be smartphones. The CNN report, citing Newzoo analyst Tianyi Gu, said that PlayStation and Xbox had entered China earlier, but continue to face problems in the market. In addition, Chinese regulators have only approved one game from the Super Mario Bros. franchise so far. This is indeed a problem for Nintendo, as Chinese gamers are unlikely to buy the console if only a few games are offered.
However, Kantan Games founder Serkan Toto told CNN that there's a high chance that the Switch won't cause much of a problem considering that Nintendo's games typically don't include gambling elements, avoid violence, and more importantly, never use any sensitive or political imagery. The downside is, if you could call it that, Nintendo's partner Tencent has to reassure the Chinese buyers that the Switch is going to offer something not available on smartphones or PCs.
Nintendo first released the Switch video game console back in March 2017. This hybrid console offers players a stationary device or a portable one. During the first month, three million units were shipped, exceeding the initial projection of two million. Within a year of release, 14 million Switch consoles had been released worldwide. As of September 2019, a total of 41 million units have been shipped. Top titles for this console include The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Super Mario Odyssey, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and Pokémon: Let's Go. A new version of the console, called Nintendo Switch Lite, was released just last September.
