DHAKA: Microsoft will later this year start offering its Xbox One game console with a local partner in China, where such devices were banned for more than a decade.

‘Today marks a monumental day for Xbox, as together with our partner BesTV New Media Co, we announced we will bring Xbox One to China in September of this year,’ Microsoft vice-president Yusuf Mehdi wrote in a blog post, reports The Straits Times.

‘Launching Xbox One in China is a significant milestone for us and for the industry.’

In January China formally authorised the domestic sale of game consoles made in its first free trade zone (FTZ) in Shanghai, potentially opening up a lucrative market to players such as Microsoft and Japan’s Sony and Nintendo.

BDST: 2017 HRS, APR 30, 2014