PSN China Store visited!

As PS4 and PS Vita officially launched March 20th in Mainland China, a new PS Store has been opened as well. Apparently Chinese PS4 is only digitally region-locked, and no region lock for physical bluray games as reported by Tech in Asia. The same site also reported that all universal PS4 console is capable to access China PSN store.

And with Sony opens of a new PSN store, this mean for us cross-region gamers, a new store with completely different offering has been added as an option, but is it really worth it? Let's check it out.

First thing you need to know is that PSN China is devoid from any PS3 contents. No games, no themes, no add-ons, nothing for PS3 as the console is still, under Chinese law, illegal in China. So for PS3 gamers, you are permitted to lose interest at this moment.

Next, there are only a tiny amount of games selection. PS4 users can buy Knack, Trials Fusion and Rayman Legends for 199 Yuan each ($32.1) which is quite expensive. The only game that catches our attention and is unavailable anywhere else is the local-made Mr. Pumpkin Adventure, which is quite a beautiful game, but we don't know how it will play. It is a lot cheaper than the other 3 games at 38 Yuan ($6.1).

Vita users only have Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD (Chinese version) and Rayman Legends at around $30 each as well. The local-made game One Tap Hero is not yet available to purchase.

Only a tiny selection of PS4 and PSVita themes. At least all of them are free.

Now this is the only thing that you PS4 users can take advantage of, only if you are interested. There is a free MOBA game King of Wushu (九阳神功) weighted at 2.5GB, which we don't know how it will play. And probably it is all in Chinese. The graphic itself though, judging from the screenshot, may not be that bad.

For this moment only PS Vita has apps, Network Media Player and Skype. We are sure we won't see YouTube app for PS4 as it is blocked in China.

We quick checked the PlayStation Plus section, and there are no Instant Game Collection for China PSN members yet. The fee for membership in USD is, in the same order as the screenshot above: $33.6 / $11.1 / $4.7. These are quite cheap and on par with Asian PSN PS Plus membership fee.

At this moment, there are only three method to top-up: Visa Credit Cards (China-issued), Alipay and UnionPay Card. So unless you have one of those, you might have no chance to purchase anything from China PS Store as they have no prepaid card yet.

All in all, there are currently nothing you can gain from Chinese PSN. Unless if you want to try King of Wushu, I have no idea what other uses for you to take advantage from. Nevertheless, we will keep this PSN on our watch for interesting deals.

  

If you'd like to visit the store on your PC by yourself, click here.

If you are wondering how to create a Chinese PSN account, read our guide here.

For now, let's go back to the land of US/UK/HK/JP PSN.

Deals currently ongoing:

1. Spring Fever Week #3 in US PSN
2. Some updates in UK/HK/JP PSN.
3. WWE, Metro franchise, and God of War games sale live in UK/EU PSN.
4. PS4 game deals and Rockstar games on sale in UK PSN.
5. Get one year of PS4 online multiplayer for only US$29.99. HK PSN account required.
6. Play the addictive free game Fat Princess: Piece of Cake on your Vita or smartphone, finish level 15 and get the PS3 game Fat Princess free for life, available for US/UK/HK PSN account holder.
7. As an addition to the official IGC, Uncharted 3 is re-offered as IGC for UK PSN Plus members. Not available on US/HK/JP PSN.
8. Final Fantasy XIV (PS4/PS3) free to play for 14 days in UK and US PSN. 
9. Sing popular song in English, or perhaps even Anime/Game songs and K-POPs at affordable price. Read our guide for Joysound TV Plus. You need Japanese PSN top-ups for this service.

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