Xbox One to launch in China next year - report

A Chinese IT executive has claimed the Xbox One will launch locally sometime in 2014.

According to Chinese reports translated by Kotaku, Funshion CEO Luo Jiangchun revealed the 2014 Chinese launch during a marketing and advertising strategy meeting last week.

The executive also said Funshion, an online video service, is coming Xbox One, and the company is prepared to take on more video game advertisers as a result.

Microsoft had no comment on the report; its stance to date is that the Xbox One will come to more territories in 2014.

Dedicated gaming consoles were made illegal in China in 2000; the PS3, Wii, Wii U and Xbox 360 have not officially released in the nation. Although the ban was recently lifted, government must still approve hardware and software releases.

If true, the report may rankle faithful European Xbox fans; it sounds like the Xbox One won't make it to Nordic territories till after Easter, and possibly not until the third quarter, despite its November 22 launch in North America and select PAL territories.

Thanks, Polygon.