Sector dossier · Toys & games
Toys and games in Asia
Toys in Asia stopped being a children's category years ago. The fastest growth sits with adult collectors — art toys, trading cards, model kits, blind boxes — where scarcity mechanics and community resale drive prices that have nothing to do with play value. Meanwhile the licensed-character business has globalised: Asian IP now sells worldwide and Western IP is manufactured, and increasingly designed, in the region. This dossier explains how we read the category: the blind-box economics, the licence pipeline and the difference between a fad and a franchise.
What we are watching
Kidult collectors driving growth
Adult collectors account for the fastest-growing and highest-margin segment across art toys, cards and model kits — and they buy differently than parents do.
Blind-box mechanics under scrutiny
Randomised purchase formats face rising regulatory attention in China and elsewhere, threatening the mechanic that powered the category's biggest growth stories.
Asian IP going global
Character IP originating in Japan, China and Korea now sells at scale in Western markets, reversing the historic licence flow.
How the category is structured
- Traditional toys remain licence-driven and seasonal, concentrated in mass retail and toy specialty chains.
- Collectibles — art toys, trading cards, model kits — form a distinct segment with scarcity economics and active secondary markets.
- Manufacturing remains heavily concentrated in China and Vietnam, making the category a live read on sourcing diversification.
- IP owners, not manufacturers, capture the margin; the licence is the business and the toy is the format.