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Relaxed restrictions draw Chinese electronics giant into console business

Following January's decision by Chinese authorities to lift the nation's 14-year-long ban on the sale of video game consoles, multinational electronics company TCL Corporation is hoping to add home gaming machines to its large portfolio of goods.

"After smart TVs and set top boxes, game consoles will be the third power that alters the way Chinese people use their living rooms," analyst Xin Haiguang told China Daily. According to Haiguang, while Chinese companies have long been used to manufacture consoles for the international market - most notably Foxconn - many native Chinese companies have missed out on sizable profits due to the recently lifted console ban.

While it's believed that the biggest benefactors of the newly lax Chinese console regulations will be Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo, it's also clear that the Chinese populace is starved for the sort of wide scale video game availability that other countries take for granted. This is where TCL Corporation hopes to step in. In 2013 the Chinese government ended a program subsidizing the manufacture of home appliances which took a sizable chunk out of TCL's earnings. By tapping the newly available Chinese populace, TCL hopes to boost its lagging profits while also giving the company a potential foothold in the international games marketplace.

"Entertainment will be the biggest focus for us in 2014," noted Hao Yi, president of TCL Corporation subsidiary TCL Multimedia Technology Holdings Ltd.

TCL Corporation has yet to reveal technical specifications or even a name for its console. It's likewise unknown when the company plans to release the device.