Contact: Kim Lindholm, Business Development Director – Apaja Online Entertainment, Email: kim.lindholm at apaja.com, Tel: +358-9-68292026
or
Tiina Zilliacus, EVP, acting CEO - Apaja Online Entertainment, Email: tiina.zilliacus at apaja.com, Tel: +358 9 6829 200
Playray online gaming expands to Belgium
Playray , a popular recreational website for game lovers of all ages, is expanding to Belgium through a newly formed partnership of its parent company Apaja Online Entertainment with media companies Corelio and MTV Networks. With the addition of this partnership, localized Playray services will be available in 16 countries.
New registrations from Belgium and web traffic to Playray sites in France and Holland indicated a clear demand for localized services. Registrations for our first localized site in Finland and to our global playray.com site quickly exceeded 20% of our country’s online population and continued to grow with visitors from other countries,” said Kim Lindholm, director of business development. “When we analyzed these registrations, it became clear that Playray had a much broader appeal than just Finland and younger age groups.” Building on this success, Apaja Online Entertainment began a program of worldwide expansion by creating Playray sites with local appeal but always accessible to visitors anywhere in the world. “Our registrations now exceed 2.6 million and continue to grow every day. We are confident that Belgium will contribute to the growth and continued success of Playray,” commented Lindholm.
Surveys of Playray registrations reveal that social aspects of the site are as important as the games being offered. Opportunities to create personal image avatars, build personal profiles, form groups, post messages and chat online allow members to promote individual identities within the global Playray community. Games of intuition, skill and knowledge that incorporate multiple levels of difficulty attract a dedicated following of people ranging in age from eight to 80. Avatars, personal profiles and most games are free to subscribers. Credits, available for purchase online, may be used for game downloads, extended online game levels, casino games and virtual world purchases.
Current and potential Apaja partners have come to recognize the revenue potential associated with online gaming when learning that, worldwide, one-third of active members are over 35 years old. “Playray’s appeal and success are absolutely unique in the non-gambling online gaming world,” says Lindholm. “It’s inspiring teenagers and grandfathers competing for high score while chatting about the game. In the Playray community, we don’t just entertain, we help people build relationships, learn, and engage in friendly competition.”
To learn more about Playray, partnerships or localized sites, email Kim Lindholm at kim.lindholm at apaja.com.
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Background Notes
Apaja/Playray & Partnerships
Operations
Apaja Online Entertainment, headquartered in Helsinki, Finland is privately held. Online gaming services were originally offered in 2001 under the brand name Aapeli. Registrations in Finland currently exceed 10% of the country’s physical population and 20+% of the online population.
As services expanded to countries of Western Europe, the trademarked name Playray was adopted. Current registrations in the 16 current Playray markets exceed 2.6 million. Registrations confirm that the gaming audience is almost exactly 50/50 men and women, with over 30% of registrants being over the age of 35.
Markets currently served with localized Playray sites include
· Western Europe – Finland, Germany, Spain, UK, France, Norway, Sweden, Estonia, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy
· Eastern Europe – Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia
· Latin/South America - Chile
Rapid expansion of Playray services is due in part to capital funding by Martinson Trigon Venture Partners and partners including Corelio, MTV Networks, MTG-Viasat, Ilse Media and Giga/Germany.
Studies conducted by Apaja confirm a broad appeal across age and demographic groups for Playray features that include:
· 45 single and multiplayer games with varying skill levels
· individually constructed avatars
· personal identity – profiles, clan memberships, communications
· chats and forums
Subscriptions to Playray, avatar creation, and game access are all free. Registrants may purchase non-monetizing chips usable for virtual world purchases, extended level gaming, and game downloads.
Partnerships
Belgium Playray partner Corelio is the largest media publisher in Belgium. Print services including de Standaard, het Nieuwsblad, and Les Editions de l’Avenir reach over 1.6 million readers daily. Corelio also offers a broad range of web-based services, including news, classifieds and jobs, that draw in excess of 3 million monthly visitors.
MTV Networks/Belgium provides entertainment and communication services throughout Belgium. Flanders TV broadcasts of MTV, TMF and Nickelodeon reach over 2.3 million households daily. Daily viewing households of MTV and Nickelodeon channels in Wallonia exceed 1.6 million. In addition to its youth directed TV programming, MTV Networks also broadcasts 15 digital TV channels, operates a number of online websites, and provides mobile phone services through its subsidiaries TMF Mobile and Generation MTV.
Kim Lindholm, Business Development Director – Apaja Online Entertainment, Email kim.lindholm at apaja.com, Tel: +358-9-6829-2026
Tiina Zilliacus, EVP, acting CEO - Apaja Online Entertainment, Email tiina.zilliacus at apaja.com, Tel: +358 9 6829 200