Microsoft's Xbox One booth was decked out in green at ChinaJoy.
Categories

China’s game console problem and where the real opportunity is

  • Posted byby Dean Takahashi
  • Updated
  • 7 min

SHANGHAI — Xaiofeng Zeng is one of the veteran analysts who studies the Chinese gaming market. And he lives in Shanghai. Zeng works as a senior analyst for market researcher Niko Partners, and he recently forecast that the Sony and Microsoft game consoles will sell just 550,000 systems in 2015 — a tiny amount compared to expectations.

He is, however, bullish on the growth of a variety of segments in China’s multifaceted market, including PC online games such as multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games, mobile games, over-the-top (OTT) set-top box gaming, and the export of Chinese games to Western markets.

Unlock premium content and VIP community perks with GB M A X! Join now to enjoy our free and premium perks. 

Join now →

Sign in to your account.

Written by

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.