TENCENT Holdings Ltd. teamed up with online retailer JD.com Inc. to take pre-orders of Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox One yesterday, the first legal sale in 14 years of a major game console on the Chinese mainland.

    JD.com has exclusive rights until July 30 to pre-sell the locally made Xbox, the company said yesterday. The offer, which requires a deposit of 499 yuan (US$81), will be available only to those who click through links to the online retailer from the Chinese versions of Tencent’s WeChat and QQ mobile-messaging apps. The console is slated to start shipping nationwide in September.

    Microsoft was the first major console maker to take advantage of a decision by the Chinese Government last year to allow sales of the gadgets in the new Shanghai free trade zone. The ban, which China instituted in 2000 over concerns about the consoles’ perceived impact on children, has allowed online games hosted by Tencent, Asia’s largest Internet company, and others to flourish.

    Duncan Clark, the Beijing-based chairman of BDA China Ltd., which advises technology companies, said Tencent and JD.com were well positioned to benefit from the policy shift.

    “For Xbox, Tencent is the most established games distributor, and, for JD, it’s logistics, shipping and quality control,” Clark said. “So it makes a lot of sense.”

    JD.com will begin directly accepting pre-orders for the new Xbox through its website and its exhibition booth at the ChinaJoy Expo in Shanghai on July 31, the company said. (SD-Agencies)