Earlier this month, it was reported that Google is returning its services to China.

Now, the tech company is one step closer to delivering. Reuters is reporting that the Chinese version of its Google Play app store will launch next year. If all goes well, it could pave the way for Google to introduce more business in China in years to come.

Since refusing to self-censor its search results was a sticking point in Google pulling its services out of China back in 2010, the company aims to comply with some requests to filter content that might be interpreted as touchy by the country's Communist Party.

"If they want to break the ice with the Chinese market then they have to pick a pretty important product to make available to the Chinese people and make it really localized," Shen Si, a former Google employee and CEO of Chinese mobile ad company PapayaMobile, told Reuters. "Google Play would be a really good product for that because it's not very sensitive."

To prepare for this impending launch, Google has stationed some of its employees in China to lay the groundwork for the app store.

Perhaps the success of its rival Apple made Google's decision to return its services to China an absolutely necessary one. Apple made $58.7 billion in Greater China during its last fiscal year, showing Google and other companies the massive potential for earnings in the country.

Just last month, Google got off to a good start in entrenching itself as a presence back in China by vowing to purchase a minority stake in Beijing-based Mobvoi, an artificial intelligence firm.