Nintendo may be opening a door long shut for the video game manufacturer’s home consoles — partnering with Chinese multimedia conglomerate Tencent (the folks who own, among other things, Riot Games and part of Epic Games) to try and get the Switch sold in China. The sale of New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe has been provisionally approved, pending a comment period that ends on the 24th.
If the venture is successful, it would be a giant boost to Nintendo’s bottom line — China is, after all, the biggest market in the world for video games, and while there are numerous censorship policies to work around and consider, getting any sort of sizable foothold in the region would be a significant bolster to their coffers. Of course, time will tell just how significant an impact the Switch will make in China.
What does this mean for consumers in the West? Probably very little — the Tencent partnership appears to apply only in China, and it seems unlikely that Nintendo will change its branding or development strategies purely to satiate the Chinese market. As far as we’re concerned, it will just be another source of revenue for the Big N — or at least, we hope so.
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Written by Amelia Fruzzetti
A writer and Nintendo fan based in Seattle, Washington. When not working for NinWire, she can be found eating pasta, writing stories, and wondering about when Mother 3 is finally going to get an official localization.
