Sony suspended its PlayStation Store in mainland China saying it wanted to improve the security of the online store, which will temporarily prevent it from selling games on the world's largest video game market.
PlayStation China announced the shutdown in a declaration
on his Weibo account on Sunday, saying it was a "system security update" without providing further details.
It also did not specify a reopening date.
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However, the shutdown comes immediately after reports on social media reported that PlayStation users on the mainland were able to switch to overseas services through a backdoor and circumvent restrictions imposed by China on the download games without license.
Sony declined to comment if reports had played a role in the closure, saying the goal of the temporary closure was to improve the security of store services.
The National Publications and Press Administration, the content regulator, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Earlier this month, a Weibo social media user named "senliyingsi" said he reported the backdoor to authorities in an article that was later widely criticized and shared by thousands of Chinese game enthusiasts.
Reuters research has revealed that some suppliers are proposing to break restrictions on the PlayStation Store in China for less than $ 5 (around Rs. 370) on e-commerce platforms.
Companies, foreign and domestic, must obtain a license from the content regulator before launching a game in the country. For years, China has disapproved of console games because it feared that violent games could harm the mental health of young people.
To comply, major console game manufacturers Nintendo and Sony have created online stores in Mainland China for approved games since entering the market in 2015 and 2019, respectively.
But the number of games in these stores is still limited.
Last year, only 13 new games were added to the PlayStation Store in China. Nintendo Switch has only been able to offer three games in its store in China in association with Tencent since it started selling consoles in China in December.
Given the strict regulations, Chinese fans are finding ways to get around the limits to access popular but unlicensed games like Nintendo's Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
To play, users in China pay a premium for unlocked Switch consoles that are sold overseas and brought in through intermediaries, and drop those with a Tencent seal that contain a server lock.
© Thomson Reuters 2020
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