The Xbox One has already been on the market since September

Dec 11, 2014 14:29 GMT  ·  By

Sony has announced that the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita consoles will be officially launched in China, early next year.

The official release date for Sony's two devices is January 11, some months after Microsoft's launch of the Xbox One home entertainment system in the country, in September this year.

The two devices will come with a lot of available action, as 70 third-party publishers are already on board to deliver content to Chinese gamers.

Furthermore, some Chinese video game creators have also confirmed content coming to Sony's consoles, in the form of King of Wushu from Suzhou Snail Digital, Mr Pumpkin Adventure from Shanghai Youju, and One Tap Hero from Shanghai Kena.

Chinese developers who want to try their hand at creating games for the PlayStation 4 home console will benefit from Modian and Shanghai Oriental Pearl Culture Development, who will assist them with releases in the region.

The Chinese program has also garnered support from some established Western companies, among which Electronic Arts, Take-Two Interactive, Warner Bros., Disney, Ubisoft, Bethesda, Codemasters, CD Projekt RED, Nordic Games, and Focus Home Interactive.

A brand new market for Sony and Microsoft

The PlayStation 4 package includes the console, with a 500 HDD, as well as a controller, while the PlayStation Vita handheld will only come with the 1 GB internal memory, and no additional memory card.

Sony has mentioned yet again that the PlayStation 4 is the most rapidly expanding new console in the corporation's history, and that it looks forward to delivering exciting software, convenient services, and entertainment experiences to the many gamers in China.

While Sony got a head start in Japan, a market that is traditionally resistant to Microsoft's consoles, due to the many issues encountered with the Xbox and Xbox 360, China is a brand new market for both device makers.

The consoles will officially enter the region following a 14-year ban on all consoles and content, which means that it's going to be very interesting to see how the two systems evolve.

Microsoft's Xbox One already has a bit of a head start, but the PlayStation 4 still surpasses it in global sales by a rather large margin.

Pricing will also play a major role in the upcoming competition. The Xbox One costs CY 3.7k / $600 / €480 in the vanilla variant, while the Kinect SKU goes for CY 4.3k / $690 / €560.

The PlayStation 4, on the other hand, will be available at a much cheaper CY 2.8k / $450 / €360, while the PlayStation Vita handheld will go for CY 1.3k / $210 / €170.

PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita images (8 Images)

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