It looks like China is relaxing the restrictions they put in place 18 months ago when they opened the console market back then.

"China lifts ban on foreign video games consoles

7 January 2014"

bbc.com/ne...635719

I have been away, so sorry if I have not replied to posts.  I was wondering if with this move, GME could expand in China, assuming they are not there already.  That could boost the stock further.  Please advise if GME already has a presence in China.

I don't see it being practical for GME to expand in China. For one thing, don't the people there still have a lack of respect for copyrights, so they'll pirate whatever they can? I assume IAP (In App Purchases) will rule, not retail software sales. Further, there are presumably huge limitations for foreign companies setting up shops there. And we're not even considering whether it's a good investment anyway. A lot of their wealth effect is tied into the shockingly manipulated and over-priced equities market, where retail investors of every income level have been herded into, and that looks so risky. It would take a brave person to be announcing a major China investment now. If there exists a retail chain already, maybe a smart play would be to take a minority position in it (not enough to have big issues with whatever regulations there are about foreign ownership), and use their knowledge and systems to improve that chain.

Sort of related...  cnbc.com/20...g.html

lt cap/Jester,

AMD could use all the help it can get (I'm still holding a small bag on that). It makes me curious about when a large developing world market like that opens up, and consoles have to come down in price for them to be attractive in such a market, does Sony or MSFT negotiate a different cost deal with component companies like AMD? Or do they just accept much thinner margins in exchange for greater demand? No a question of great moment, just makes me curious. My guess is they simply accept the lower margins, as I've not hear of companies preceeding them (such as Apple) getting a break from suppliers for their growing Chinese presence. I assume that such an announcement helps the vg companies as well - altho who knows how immersed in pirated copies of games China is.

Quick note of kudos - Bullseye long ago cited IBKR as a pick - it's probably appreciated to be a triple since his suggestion. I  disagreed with him a lot on politics and social policy, but always listened to his ideas with interest. 'Twould be nice to have him, Ben, Nsthil, etc. active on this board. On the other hand, the 4 of us that seem to be active daily have probably known each other for probably 10 years or so in some cases. I still value you folks greatly, and I'm glad this discussion forum didn't just disappear.

I would think that the cost negotiated by AMD with SNE and MSFT would hold on a world wide basis when they originaly bid for the console market, i.e. no change.  Just an opinion, not that I know the details of how the deal was structured back when AMD won the CPU/GPU/APU consoles bid