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PlayStation 2 Release Delayed In China

Posted by simoniker on from the confusion-reigns dept.

Thanks to the San Jose Mercury News/AP for their article regarding Sony's postponement of the PlayStation 2's release in China. According to the piece, "Two days after the planned release date, a statement on Sony's Chinese-language Web site blamed an 'unfavorable environment' for the delay. It didn't elaborate or set a new launch date." The article goes on to speculate that "Makers of popular console games such as Sony and Nintendo have been wary of launching products in mainland China... largely because of fears of piracy", referencing Nintendo's recently-launched iQue console, and also noting: "Earlier reports said that the advanced computer chips used in PlayStation 2 and some of its advanced graphics functions might have military applications that would preclude export of the devices to China under U.S. and Japanese law, but Sony did not mention that in its announcement."

2 of 35 comments (clear)

  1. Re:If the G5 is available.... by Tango42 · · Score: 2, Informative

    The military issues may not be realistic, but the piracy ones are. It may well not the financially viable to sell it in China. You can't expect a company to do something that would lose them money, can you?

  2. PS2 in Hong Kong by cloudless.net · · Score: 3, Informative

    PS2 has been launched in Hong Kong for a very long time already, and mod chips are widely available too. If SONY insists not to launch PS2 in mainland China, people will simply buy them from Hong Kong. There is privacy problem in Hong Kong too, just not as terrible as in the mainland.