Tencent and Nintendo Partner up to Sell Switch in China

Nintendo announced a new deal with Tencent on April 26. The agreement will allow the Nintendo Switch, to finally break into mainland China, the world’s largest game market.

“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,” Nintendo wrote in a short press release.

As of right now, it is unclear what exactly the partnership entails and how the revenue will be split up has yet to be uncovered.

SEE ALSO: Ubisoft partners with Tencent to bring top games to China

Last year was tough on many game publishers, and Tencent was no exception. A regulatory crackdown on video games stopped the publication of new games for almost a year. Now, the Chinese government has set up a new body to review the ethics of games published in China, and new titles have slowly started rolling in.

Nintendo entering China is a long time coming, but Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad cautions that the market should not get too excited yet. The process is still in its early stages and the console won’t be released in China for a while as the software requires yet another round of testing and inspections.

“Nintendo and Tencent will also need to submit each game for approval in China and ensure the games comply with content regulations. This too is a lengthy process and means that it will take some time before Nintendo can build up a large library of official games in China,” Ahmad added.

Featured photo credit to Nintendo