Back in 2000, China put a ban on all video game console sales and it looks like the 15-year ban is finally being lifted. The country began easing up on these restrictions back in January of 2014, when the Ministry of Culture began approving foreign console sales with the stipulation that each piece of hardware be only sold inside the Shanghai Free Trade Zone.
This was an obvious step in the right direction and according to Mashable, it looks like Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony will now have access to the country’s population of over 1.3 billion people:
“This is great news for us,” a Sony spokesperson told the WSJ. PlayStation products came to China following the 2014 easing of the ban, and the Sony representative reaffirmed the company’s commitment to bringing its products to the Chinese market.
The Chinese gaming market is currently worth $22.2 billion, which is a notable 23% rise from 2014. So in other words, China just officially leveled up.