Nintendo abandons plans to release consoles in China, report claims

Wii U and 3DS platform holder Nintendo will not follow Sony and Microsoft into the Chinese market, it has been claimed.

Tokyo based games consultant Serkan Toto has said Nikkei has reported that Nintendo will not execute prior plan to manufacture consoles for the Chinese market”.

A year ago Nintendo said that rather than releasing its existing hardware in emerging markets, it would instead manufacture brand new machines for such regions.

We want to make new things, with new thinking rather than a cheaper version of what we currently have,” boss Satoru Iwata said. The product and price balance must be made from scratch.”

The news of China lifting its sales embargo on foreign games consoles was even enough to boost the share price of platform holders, including Nintendo.

Both Sony and Microsoft have subsequently released their existing next-gen hardware in China, although both PS4 and Xbox One faced last minute delays before finally making their bow in the region.

Nihon Keizai Shimbun reports that Nintendo will not execute prior plan to manufacture consoles for the Chinese market.

— Dr. Serkan Toto (Kantan Games Inc.) (@serkantoto) May 11, 2015