Nintendo partnered with Tencent to bring its ultra-popular console, Switch, to the world's largest consumer market. According to reports the game regulators in Guangdong province provisionally approved the trial version of New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe for the Switch.
On the statement of Nintendo during an interview with Reuters, the company said that is has applied for approval to sell the console itself, however, they need to pass through a multi-layered process and it may take some time before they could actually sell the console in China.
Because of global campaigns, China relaxed its restrictions on gaming in recent years. It gave Microsoft the chance to start selling the Xbox One in China. Sony also marketed is PS4 in the country. Gaming authorities, however, halted the game approvals for nine months and it caused Tencent share price to decline. It also made the market for gaming uncertain.
Nintendo is currently working on two new versions of its Switch console. The lower-end version is expected in the market by fall and its premium model could follow its release.
According to reports, one of the models is smaller and cheaper which is focused on portability. They will also release a higher-end model aimed to be used by more serious gamers like those used by gamers who join Sony's PS4 and Microsoft Xbox One. According to sources from Nintendo, they will eliminate the little-used Rumble controller vibration and other features in order to cut costs for the product.
Recently, Sony and Xbox released multiple versions of their PS4 and Xbox one consoles. They released higher and lower end versions of the consoles in order to keep their sales running. Nintendo's Switch is a popular console with around 32 million units sold. Recently, Nintendo revised its 2018 fiscal sales projections downward, from 20 million to 17 million. Nintendo plans to use the new consoles to boost its sales and revenue.
The next generation console wars also forced Nintendo to develop its latest console. Microsoft and Sony will soon release their latest models and both of the companies had a head start over Nintendo. The launch of the new Switch model and the new games will surely place Nintendo in line with its competitors.
According to a source, you would be wrong to think the enhanced version is similar to what Sony did with PS4 Pro and the other is just a cheap alternative that looks very similar to some past hand-held machines, say, Sony's PlayStation Vita.
