Chinese Internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd (騰訊) and gaming titan Nintendo Co yesterday announced plans to launch the Japanese company’s popular Switch console in China from next week.
Expectations for the console’s launch in the world’s largest games market has helped to push up Nintendo’s share price this year.
The console would be sold in China from Tuesday for 2,099 yuan (US$297), the companies said at a launch event in Shanghai.
“Nintendo has long hoped to provide Chinese consumers with Nintendo’s games and entertainment, and now this dream has come true,” said Shigeru Miyamoto, the renowned game creator of Super Mario Bros and Donkey Kong, said in a video message.
Nintendo had said earlier this year that it was working with Tencent — China’s leading online video game company as well as a giant in messaging and myriad other apps — to roll out the Switch in China.
The Switch has become a huge global seller, aided by the release of innovative, family-friendly titles that have been well-received by critics and gamers.
The console would come with New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe Edition pre-installed, with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Edition and Super Mario Odyssey also available soon, company officials said.
Tencent added that it would work to “enrich” the console’s game lineup, including with titles created by Chinese developers, and that up to 20 games could be available to play on Switch next year.
China in 2014 began easing a more than decade-long ban on consoles imposed out of concern over the negative impact gaming might have on children.
Tencent was hammered by a Chinese government games crackdown launched last year that led to a months-long license approval freeze. The government again cited youth gaming addiction and other concerns as the reason.
China last month imposed a curfew on gamers under 18.
Gaming analysts have said console-makers like Nintendo face an uphill climb in China, where smartphones have become the dominant gaming platform.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure