As expected, Microsoft* just formally announced Xbox One for the Chinese market in Shanghai. You could call this an event of historical significance, because game consoles have been banned indifferently in China for the past 14 years. Xbox One is the first to break the ice, now that the ban has sort of loosened a bit.
Unlike product launch elsewhere, Microsoft is navigating through a tricky situation to bring Xbox One to China. Firstly, the Chinese government?s ban on game consoles isn?t really lifted yet. The country just created a Free Trade Zone in Shanghai (?SFTZ? for short), where enterprises enjoy more freedom in business. It?s within this specific zone that the ban is loosened. Microsoft has formed a subsidiary within SFTZ, in joint-venture with its Chinese partner BesTV, an IPTV content provider. The subsidiary?s special SFTZ status supposedly allows it to sell Xbox One to the rest of the country.
Full story from the WPCentral blog...