March 27^th, 2006 (4:21pm) - The PlayStation 2 will arrive in China for the first time at some point next year, with Sony CEO Nobuyuki Idei telling the Financial Times that the company is currently preparing for the launch, and hopes to support it with locally-developed software for the console.

China has traditionally been seen as a hotbed of piracy, and console makers have avoided it for that reason. However, Microsoft recently announced plans to launch the Xbox in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan, while Idei claims that Sony is not particularly concerned by the issue of piracy in the territory.

"Of course, piracy is a big issue, but we don’t focus too much on it", he told the FT. Idei’s main focus with the Chinese launch is on locally developed software, which he sees as key to the success of the console in any new territory. "We have to encourage and attract Chinese creators to write the programs for us," he said. "We can introduce at any time the hardware to the market, but the successful lineup of the game content is more important."