Who is to blame for the poor sales of consoles sold in China?

In the gaming world, Sony and Microsoft can be considered the conscience of the industry, and the global sales of PS4 and Xbox One undoubtedly prove this. According to statistics, as of the end of May this year, the total global sales of PS4 and Xbox One were 34.89 million units, a number that must have made the bosses of Sony and Microsoft very happy.

As the next-generation consoles enter China, many heavy game players are cheering, seemingly echoing the global sales of next-generation consoles. However, according to Niko's survey data, the total sales of PS4 and Xbox One in China are only 550,000 units, which is only about 1% of the world's sales. For the Chinese market, which accounts for one-fifth of the world's population, this is bound to be a heavy blow to Microsoft and Sony.

Why is it that the next-generation consoles with such good sales have been put into the cold palace after being named as the Chinese version? Whose fault is it that the Chinese version consoles cannot be sold?

Piracy and cracking are rampant, and domestic copycats are prevalent

Previously, PS4 was nearly cracked due to a loophole. Although Sony made up for it and fixed the loophole, it still gave many domestic players a hope.

In China, where the piracy trend is prevalent, pirated games and cracked games have long been one of the sources of games for many poor people in China. In fact, the next-generation consoles are not the first to be targeted by cracked games. As early as the era of the red and white machine, counterfeiting genuine cartridges had already caused game companies to suffer a big loss. In the era of PS3 and Xbox 360, one hard drive is enough to play all genuine games.

As for PS4 and Xbox One, which entered the domestic market only late, the games on the consoles have already been played thoroughly by players on PC. And for domestic cracking experts, when they are bored, they just crack a "game" and put it online at will. As a result, they don't have to buy any game they want to play, and they can find dozens of them with a simple search.

Just like the PS3 can run cracked versions, since players can play games for free, why should they spend money to buy expensive genuine versions?

PC is still the mainstream choice for domestic players to play games

Since the ban on game consoles was lifted not too long ago, apart from serious game enthusiasts who tried their best to get parallel-imported consoles and games from overseas, there are still some errors in the Chinese people's understanding of game consoles. However, PCs are always around us, and even children around 10 years old can operate them.

Faced with such an environment, the advantages of PC are reflected.

First of all, in addition to the TV, most middle-class and above families will have a computer, and the computer is updated very quickly, and the configuration is constantly improving. A large number of 3A-level games also have good performance on PC. For example, the operation fluency of first-person shooting games such as "Call of Duty" on PC is much better than that on consoles. From the perspective of picture processing. Xbox One and PS4 are absolutely unable to process 4K images, and they are even powerless at 2K. Xbox One can barely display 1080p pictures.

Secondly, PC is full of masterpieces. With the trend of cracked versions in China, players can enjoy many 3A works for free. The console games in China have not been released yet, but players have already played all the games on PC. It must be said that such a situation only exists in China.

Finally, most traditional families in China believe that game consoles can only play games and cannot be compared with the omnipotent PC. Although this is a misunderstanding, such misunderstandings can be seen everywhere in China, where the ban on game consoles has just been lifted.

Therefore, ordinary Chinese people often spend a lot of money to buy a computer, and will not buy a console to play games for themselves like game enthusiasts.

The price of games is too high. Chinese people are not stupid and do not have much money.

"Stupid but rich" seems to be how foreigners describe the Chinese nouveau riche. The purchasing power of the Chinese nouveau riche for luxury goods is still amazing. Perhaps seeing this, the bosses of Sony and Microsoft seem to have seen the scene of the next-generation consoles selling well in China.

But imagination is beautiful, but reality is cruel. Most families in China are still relatively rational. A next-generation console costs about 3,000 yuan, which seems to be about the same price as a mobile phone, but the price of games in China seems to be a bit beyond the budget.

For example, Final Fantasy X|X2 on PS4 costs 269 yuan, while the casual game Rayman Legends shared by both next-generation consoles costs 199 yuan. These games cost only a dozen dollars abroad, perhaps just a child's pocket money, but in China, the price is a bit too high. Although this is not a barrier for those high-paid gamers, for a normal family, this price should be carefully considered.

For most Chinese families, affordability and ease of use are the truth, and rational consumption has always been the criterion for every housewife. Even now, there are still many people who think that playing games is a waste of time, and they are unwilling to spend money to buy these relatively expensive genuine games. What's more, almost every family has a computer, so if you want to play any game, it is better to download it yourself.

In the face of these, in addition to the high price of the console, most of it is based on the fact that China is not very open to console games, has little knowledge, and the pervasive piracy has also curbed the sales of consoles. Only by truly understanding China's national conditions can Sony and Microsoft better face the Chinese market.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.