Singapore – Electronic Arts (EA) marked the relocation of its Asia Pacific regional headquarters to Singapore with a launch party at the Swissotel Helipad on March 6, 2008. Regional media and celebrities were in attendance alongside EA’s top executives and producers flown in from the company’s studios and offices across North America and Europe. On the choice of relocating to Singapore, Chris Thompson, vice president and general manager, EA Asia, said, “Singapore is already an Asian hub for many large media entertainment and technology companies. The government, through the EDB and the MDA, have been very pro-active in developing and growing the industry with a strong focus on IP protection. In addition, we find it an easy place to attract talent both local and foreign in providing a safe, knowledgeable and technologically sophisticated environment.” With Asia currently generating around US$200million, 6% of EA’s global revenues, the company is targeting Asia’s contribution to rise to 15% of global revenues within 3-5 years. Charged with this task is former Asia Pac head of Walt Disney Television International, Jon Niermann – now president EA Asia. Faced with game software piracy as high as 95%, Niermann told Television Asia Plus that EA Asia is having to look elsewhere for revenues. For mobile, over 28 games are currently available across Asia. EA is also targeting the huge online gaming markets in countries like China, worth US$1.2billion currently, and South Korea, currently worth US$1.5billion. “In Korea for example, we offer games free-to-play online – but players can pay to upgrade their on-line entities,” Niermann explains, “and are spending between US$10-30 per month on such upgrades.” Asked about the content cross-over between gaming and TV/film, Niermann says there are definitely projects on the cards – some of which were on hold due to the WGA writers’ strike. “Seeing as we use the same software for games creation as Pixar use to create movies, there’s no reason why we can’t create content from games or games from content,” he said. Hosted by ESPN-STAR Sports and Game TV show presenter, Drinnie, the launch event featured live performances by US music group Rockband, as well as dance music sets spun by EA’s sound engineers and professional disc jockeys Shawn Livewire and OENQ. Guests also tried the latest EA game titles at demo stations while dining and interacting with EA’s staff.