Here are the most recent, important developments regarding Nintendo Switch in China:

The New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe was approved for distribution in Mainland China by the State Administration of Press and Publication on October 25th 2019, along with 11 other titles for PC, Mobile and Console. The list was published on the gaming regulators website on October 29th. This is Nintendo’s first title to be approved for Switch in China. The publisher is listed as Tencent Games, who is responsible for hardware and software distribution in China for Nintendo as per the agreement announced on April 26th 2019.

We note there are multiple first party titles in the approval pipeline that were submitted for to China’s gaming regulator from April 2019. Nintendo has been proactively translating titles into Simplified Chinese for the global release which allows them to prepare a game for submission to China’s gaming regulator quicker.

We originally projected a launch for Nintendo Switch in China by the end of calendar year 2019, and whilst one title is approved, we note that Nintendo and Tencent still require certain approvals for hardware, such as 3C approval, and will likely wait for additional games to receive licenses before proceeding with a full launch. That being said, we are still optimistic on a launch within the next 6 months.

Tencent has set up a Nintendo Co-Operation department in Shanghai and has begun hiring additional staff to support the Nintendo Switch roll out in Mainland China. Tencent also established a new subsidiary ‘Shanghai Tengren Technology’ on September 5th 2019 to handle Nintendo Switch operations in the country.

Grey market shipments of Nintendo Switch hardware and software have been strong in Mainland China over the past two years. We expect Nintendo Switch to be the market leader in China by 2022, overtaking the PlayStation 4 in lifetime sales.

As always, press and clients are welcome to contact us with questions or to discuss further.

Note: our Greater Southeast Asia PC and Mobile Games market reports and 5-year forecasts are releasing soon. Contact us if you’re interested in purchasing or receiving an advance of the data.

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