Sony PS4 & Vita Launched in China

Sony PS4 and PS Vita were launched in China on March 20, 2015 after a 2-month delay. The price point of the devices is slightly lower than that of Xbox One, but specials exist for Xbox One too making it competitive in some situations. There remains a question of the region-lock, as Sony says the devices are not region-locked in China yet gamers seem to be unable to access accounts made outside of China on the devices sold in China.

Singapore’s Modern Founder Passes

Lee Kuan Yew, founding father of Singapore, passed away March 23, 2014 at age 91. He was incredibly influential and important in the Asia Pacific region and beyond. Many articles have come out discussing his strengths and the divided opinion about his accomplishments. We have no analysis to offer, but here is a New York Times article that could help.

Tencent Profits at $4B for 2014

Much of that revenue comes from games and Niko’s upcoming syndicated research reports will cover the market dominating company and its games services revenue.

Indonesia to Ease IP Registration

Indonesia’s game developers always raised their concern on the complexity and long waiting time for intellectual property rights (IPR) registration process. To tackle the problem, the Ministry of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) changes the policy on IPR registration process. The ministry, in cooperation with the Ministry of Law and Human Rights will ease the IPR registration process for SMEs, with abolishing the registration price and speeding up the process.

Anak Agung Gede Ngurah Puspayoga, Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs, said on Wednesday (3/18/2015), “[The process] will be free as long as we know that they are SMEs, whether the company’s micro, small, or medium enterprises”. Before this policy change, the process could took 3-4 months. Braman Setyo, the Deputy of Business Development and Restructurization, Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs said that, “While previously the process could take 3 to 4 months, and they have to pay Rp300.000 [$28], it is now free.”