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Asia Entertainment Technology Ltd.
Company typePrivate
IndustryOnline Retailing, B2C
Founded2002
HeadquartersHong Kong
Key people
Jan Neuhaeusser, CEO[1]
ProductsDVDs, music, books, music books, DVD music books, electronics & gadgets, gaming consoles & accessories, video games, cables, toys and groceries
Websiteplay-asia.com

Playasia is an online retailer of entertainment products from Asia.[2] The website sells import games, DVDs, music, CDs, gadgets, groceries, books, gaming console accessories, cables and toys. Playasia is based in Hong Kong and caters to the Asia-Pacific region, but also offers most of the products to international buyers.

History

Launch

Playasia was established in 2002 in Hong Kong, with the launch of its website selling games and accessories for all major current game consoles and computer operating systems. In addition to video games, the site also offers electronic goods, such as products from the Tamagotchi series.

Funding of game development

Playasia had funded the development of side-scrolling shooter Söldner-X: Himmelsstürmer.[3][4]

Import suspension

After the lawsuit against Lik-Sang for importing NTSC-J PlayStation 3 hardware and software to Europe, Play-Asia announced that it would no longer be shipping PlayStation products to the EU.[5] [6]

However, there have been big changes in the video games industry, such as console manufacturers and publishers abandoning regional lockouts[7][8][9] and the evolution of consumer buying behaviour driven by the acceptance and growth of global cross-border ecommerce, encouraged by major branded ecommerce platforms like Amazon, Ebay and Alibaba.[10][11][12][13] Therefore, Playasia still ships PlayStation products and games Globally as of late 2010, as well as into Europe.

Play Exclusives - Premium Physical Releases

In January 2017 Playasia launched Soldner X-2: Final Prototype to begin the PLAY Exclusives program, a line of still ongoing physical console releases manufactured in partnership with publishing company Eastasiasoft.[14] The goal of the publishing venture is to support and promote indie developers and their games, as well as physical game collecting.

Originally launching with only PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita releases, Playasia eventually expanded into Nintendo Switch releases in 2018 with titles such as Dimension Drive, RXN -Raijin-, and Death Road to Canada.

Due to the niche nature of game collecting PLAY Exclusive releases are produced as a single batch ranging from 1,000 - 6,000 copies per console release and are determined by demand. As a result many of the popular releases and titles sell out shortly after opening sale.

References

  1. ^ Article in Huffpost
  2. ^ "Play-Asia interview: Company director, Jan Neuhaeusser - online retailers, XBox 360, Playstation 3 - PC World Australia". 18 November 2011. Retrieved 30 October 2012.
  3. ^ "DevelopMag article". Archived from the original on 2007-10-11. Retrieved 2007-09-15.
  4. ^ Söldner, Söldner. Retro Gamer. Issue 39. Pg 8. July 2007.
  5. ^ "Play-Asia.com suspends Euro Sony imports - GameSpot.com". Archived from the original on 2009-11-10. Retrieved 2009-10-27.
  6. ^ Play-Asia.com quietly cancels PS3 pre-orders to Europe | Joystiq
  7. ^ "Regional lockout", Wikipedia, 2019-05-09, retrieved 2019-05-22
  8. ^ "r/ImportGames - Which consoles are region locked/region free". reddit. 22 June 2015. Retrieved 2019-05-22.
  9. ^ CBSi, Patrick Shawn Hearn Patrick Hearn has been a freelance technology writer for 6+ years He has written for; GameSpot; Xfinity; Others, Many. "Will your Nintendo Switch play any game, anywhere?". Lifewire. Retrieved 2019-05-22.((cite web)): CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ "Global Cross-Border Retail Will Triple Over The Next Six Years". Cross-Border E-commerce Magazine. 2017-04-10. Retrieved 2019-05-22.
  11. ^ Paypal, Paypal (2018). PayPal Cross-Border Consumer Research. PayPal Inc.
  12. ^ "Cross-border e-commerce boosts import trade | Deloitte China | Press release". Deloitte China. Retrieved 2019-05-22.
  13. ^ "Booming global cross-border e-commerce trade drives 48% Retail growth for PPRO in 2018 • PPRO Group". PPRO • Local Payments. Worldwide. 2019-02-25. Retrieved 2019-05-22.
  14. ^ "eastasiasoft - Indie Games for PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, iPhone, iPad & Android". www.eastasiasoft.com. Retrieved 2019-05-22.

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