PlayStation 2 to be launched in five Chinese cities

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, December 01, 2003

PlayStation 2 to be launched in five Chinese cities

Sony Corp will sell its PlayStation 2 game console on the Chinese mainland from December.

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Sony Corp will sell its PlayStation 2 game console on the Chinese mainland from December.

The Japanese electronics giant plans to market the PlayStation 2 game console and related software from December 20 in five mainland cities -- Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Chengdu.

"The console and related software will all be made in China," said Akira Sato, deputy president and chief operating officer of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.

The PlayStation 2 console will be priced at around 1,988 yuan (US$240) in the domestic market, compared with 1,500 yuan for the smuggled product.

With the debut of the long-awaited home entertainment machine in Beijing yesterday, Sony also unveiled three game titles, namely ICO, XIGO and a game featuring catching monkeys. They cost 168 yuan per title.

Sony has selected a Chinese company to publish its game titles and another two domestic firms as sales channel providers.

"Sony was previously reluctant to introduce PlayStation 2 into the Chinese market due to the piracy problem," said Hiroshi Shoda, chairman of Sony (China) Ltd.

"But we changed our minds as we think that the piracy situation cannot be controlled 100 percent, not only in China but also many other countries and regions in the world."

Shoda also listed the Chinese people's demand for a better lifestyle as another reason.

"We hope that more foreign television-based game products will be sold in the domestic market to drive the game industry's development in China," said Kou Xiaowei with the General Administration of Press and Publication.

Microsoft's Xbox, PlayStation 2's largest competitor, is not on sale on the Chinese mainland currently.

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