Chinese e-commerce giant and multibillion dollar corporation Alibaba may already be designing China's own new-generation game console in an effort to further expand in the gaming industry, according to a report by VentureBeat.

The rumor originated from Niko Partners, a market research organization that's renowned for closely following the Chinese gaming industry market.

Like Us on Facebook

Although Alibaba reportedly declined comment, the managing director of the organization, Liza Cosmas Hanson, claims she heard from a "credible source" that Alibaba could be releasing the potential game console as early as, sometime next year, indicating that the console is already being created.

A recent ban was recently lifted that now allows gaming consoles to be sold in mainland China. Microsoft's Xbox One was released in September and is the first console to launch in the country since the PlayStation 2 in 2004. Meanwhile, Sony's PlayStation 4 is the next console to be launched in just couple weeks on Jan. 11.

Although Chinese Internet giant Tencent Holdings currently dominates the gaming industry in China in terms of PC and mobile gaming, Alibaba could be looking to change that by implementing China's own game console.

Alibaba has already expressed its interest in expanding in the gaming industry when it recently invested $120 million into American game developing company Kabam that currently has 35 titles with gamers in over 150 countries. Alibaba also invested into mobile gaming platform KTPlay, which is only currently available in China and essentially adds a social experience to single-player games.

Alibaba certainly have the resources to create a game console and compete with Tencent and Western gaming companies in China, but launching a console is an extremely daunting task. To be successful, the company would surely need many partnerships with developers and publishers, and Alibaba is already in the motions of doing that, according to Niko Partners.

"They have been talking to developers about potentially getting content, some of it domestically developed to avoid the headaches of foreign game content rules yet there are, of course, domestic content rules too," Hanson said.

TagsGaming Industry, New-Generation Consoles, Chinese games