Release of #NintendoSwitch in China . It could be a new overseas market for Japanese Novel games.

Release of #NintendoSwitch in China . It could be a new overseas market for Japanese Novel games.

Nintendo released the following press release

On April 26, Nintendo released the following press release:

Nintendo Co., Ltd. is announcing that a collaboration is in progress with Tencent Holdings Limited (HQ: Shenzhen,
China; Chairman of the Board and CEO: Ma Huateng) to release the Nintendo Switch video game system in China.

https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2019/190426.pdf

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In the 2010s, the overseas expansion of Japanese-made Novel games began through Steam.
It was a happy occasion when hit games like ‘NEKOPARA’ appeared and foreign novel-game fans could easily purchase Japanese novel-game.

However, depending on the design, Valve’s policy may not be able to release the Novel game easily, or even if the game is released, the cancellation such as ‘IENOKAGI’ may occur.
There were also publishers who churned out poorly translated Novel games, which never made a good impact on the Novell gaming market.
For better or worse, most of the international expansion of Japanese Novel games was done through Steam.

＜NEKOPARA＞

＜IENOKAGI＞

The main consumers of Novel games are the Chinese, who have a large population in the Steam market.

As for the Nintendo Switch, the Novel game released on Windows has been ported, and this sales of Nintendo switch in China seems to have created an excellent platform to release the Novel game to China besides Steam.

＜Novell Game ‘DAI TOSHOKAN NO HITUJIKAI -Library Party-‘ Ported to Nintendo Switch from Windows＞

Of course, the same problem can occur with Nintendo switches.
Also, since Tencent can’t ignore the Chinese government’s intentions, the release of the Nintendo switch may be more complicated due to political reasons than Steam.
But I think it’s good to have a platform other than Steam.