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PlayStation 4 and Vita come to China on March 20 after months of delay

China gets its own limited edition PlayStation 4 and Vita systems with dragon art

Image Credit: Sony

Sony’s game systems finally have a release date in China.

Sony’s plans to enter the Chinese market on Jan. 11 were suddenly unplugged three days before the release, with the company citing “various factors” for the delay. But the launch is back on track months later and is now set for a March 20 launch for both its PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita. If all goes according to plan this time, Sony will follow rival Microsoft (it released the Xbox One in late 2014 in China) into the massive Chinese games market just after the lift on a 14-year ban on game consoles, giving the Japanese company a piece of a gaming market that reached $18.5 billion in 2014, second only to the U.S. in size.

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Microsoft saw similar delays last year with its Xbox One, and it’s likely that the PlayStation 4’s delays were for the same reasons. Both Microsoft and Sony are up against government regulatory practices, with censorship being a major concern. It’s never easy to enter a new market, but the ministries governing gaming in China are especially strict.

The PlayStation 4 will only be the second console released in China since government released its temporary ban in January 2014. Even now, the sale of game consoles is limited to the country’s free trade zones, new testbeds for economic growth.

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The PlayStation 4 will sell for 2,899 yuan ($467) when it goes on sale next week.

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