Reading In To The PS4 Launch: Creating and Sharing from the Inside Out

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On 11th December – Playstation’s 20th anniversary – we attended the official launch event for the PS4, which will hit stores (along with the Vita handheld device) on January 11th. We will leave the specifics to the tech blogs, instead focusing on some observations and speculation as to what the initially released titles say about China’s openness to foreign creative.

ps4

Slash and dash – this pretty much summarizes what’s on offer. You’ve got your classic martial art fantasies, gender roles, and very traditional settings that reflect a distinct Chinese aesthetic. Coupled with the limited edition Dragon-emblazoned console, you can see the Playstation team are making every possible effort to localize and adjust to the needs of this very protective, nascent console gaming market.

King of Wushu will feature as part of a release package. Here is the trailer:

Despite the fact that 70 third-party publishers and developers are already on board with big names including EA, Ubisoft and Take-Two (you can read more names via IGN), watching the trailers for what’s on offer on the PS4 and Vita subtly suggested something. In contrast to the dream held by international games developers of finally having a legitimate means of exporting their greatest titles to the mainland (even with a little ‘localising’ to keep the censors happy), the reality could be that companies like Ubisoft and EA will have to abandon this strategy and instead, work with local developers to offer a helping hand in creating a new generation of China-safe games. What good is Grand Theft Auto in the mainland if all you can do is drive?

The creative industries will develop from the inside and spread out, rather than host international creative and interests. Look at the film market – it’s all moving from within China’s borders out in to Hollywood. And Hollywood is willing to kowtow to Chinese interests for the sake of increased investment. Even in music, domestic platforms (Modern Sky festival) and bands are beginning to work their way out into the international stage.

This is all very speculative – it would be great to get more views from specialists in the field working in China.

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