Sony has increased investment in Chinese game developers

Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) has decided to expand its China Hero Project program to support game developers in China. This is reported by Reuters. The Japanese IT giant intends to invest one million yuan (about $140,000) in each project selected by the jury.

By strengthening the support program, Sony wants to increase the popularity of console gaming in China, as well as find new talent and bring their products to the international market. Reuters believes that another important motive for Sony is to expand its share in the Chinese market. For Sony, this is a crucial moment in the race with Microsoft, which, in addition to buying up large publishers, is also making attempts to expand into Asia.

The China Hero Project was launched back in 2017. The project was put on hold in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During the stages of 2017 and 2019, the Sony “incubator” supported the development of 17 games, seven of which eventually made it to release.

“The scope of the third season will be much larger than the previous two,” said Bao Bo, director of development for Sony in China.

As part of the presentation of the third stage of the China Hero Project, it was also announced that Sony itself will act as the publisher of the two games selected earlier. We are talking about the Lost Soul Aside and Convallaria projects.

According to SIE director Jim Ryan, 3.5 million PlayStation 4 consoles have been sold in China for all time. In the case of the PlayStation 5, the Japanese company intends to double the result of the previous generation.