ACTIVISION SHOWCASES WORLD-CLASS ENTERTAINMENT PROPERTIES AT BRAND LICENSING EUROPE 2016
Call of Duty®, Skylanders™ and Destiny Deliver Hot New Products this Fall
Activision Publishing, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI), will be presenting an array of opportunities from its top entertainment properties at Brand Licensing Europe 2016. Exhibiting at the event for the first time (booth B60), the company will showcase some of the year’s most anticipated videogames – Call of Duty®: Infinite Warfare, Skylanders™® Imaginators and Bungie’s Destiny – which are supported by massive, deeply engaged audiences. Activision is expanding its international licensing footprint across its portfolio, building on a roster of top partners including MEGA Brands/Mattel, Crayola, Astro Gaming, Power A, KontrolFreek and Bioworld International, among others.
“Activision is home to some of the world’s most engaging entertainment content supported by passionate fans,” said Ashley Maidy, vice president of global licensing and partnerships at Activision Publishing, Inc. “From the award-winning, billion dollar franchises Call of Duty and Skylanders, to Destiny, the biggest new videogame franchise launch in history, we are focused on delivering impactful, far-reaching extensions to our brands that resonate with our massive player base. Expanding our reach in the European market is an area of focus for us.”
Key property updates for Brand Licensing Europe 2016 follows:
Call of Duty
The pop culture phenomenon Call of Duty franchise continues to engage audiences worldwide with compelling entertainment content across multiple initiatives and products.
New Content: 4th November marks the year’s most anticipated video game launch when Call of Duty®: Infinite Warfare, which includes Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® Remastered in the Digital Deluxe and Legacy Editions, hits store shelves worldwide. Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare breaks ground in storytelling by exploring the weight of leadership and the responsibilities that come with it in an emotional, character-driven narrative. Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare introduces new weaponry, unique player abilities and stunning all-new settings to the franchise, in addition to a riveting single player story campaign, all-new zombies co-operative experience with Zombies in Spaceland and of course the epic multiplayer gameplay fans expect from Call of Duty.
Deep Fan Engagement: Call of Duty XP, the largest fan experience in franchise history, was held in Los Angeles in early September and was attended by thousands of Call of Duty fans and millions more, who tuned in online to watch the competition.
The multi-day fan celebration featured first hands-on with Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare multiplayer, the Zombies in Spaceland co-op mode, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered multiplayer, and new Call of Duty®: Black Ops III downloadable content. The massive event featured a theme-park of Call of Duty-inspired activities, along with the most viewed Call of Duty eSports competition in franchise history — Call of Duty® World League Championship, presented by PlayStation® 4, which topped more than 20 million views as teams competed for the $2million prize purse. Broadcast in five languages, the worldwide peak concurrent viewership topped the previous record for Call of Duty eSports events by more than 40 percent. Heading into Call of Duty XP, fans had consumed an astounding 1.1B minutes of content.
In support of the award-winning Call of Duty franchise, Activision has amassed the largest licensing program to date featuring new categories and partners, including: ongoing partnerships with Bioworld International (Apparel), Astro Gaming (Headsets), MEGA Brands (Construction Sets), KontrolFreek (Gaming Accessories), Prima (Strategy Guides), and Funko (Figures). New licensees include GBEye (Posters), Games Alliance, Danilo (Calendars), 1Run Studios (Collectible Art Posters) and Trends (Posters, Calendars).
The program will continue to expand in 2017 across Europe, LATAM and Australia with new partners across a broader range of categories.
Skylanders
The family game phenomenon Skylanders is evolving into a true transmedia entertainment franchise with a break-through new game and television series this year.
New Ways for Fans to Engage: Continuing to drive innovation and engagement in the family games category, the eagerly anticipated Skylanders Imaginators will launch in Europe on 14th October and North America on October 16. For the first time ever, Skylanders Imaginators will empower players to unleash their imaginations by giving them the freedom to create their own Skylander characters both in-game and on-the-go with the free mobile app, Skylanders™ Creator.
Debut TV Series: Skylanders™ Academy, the new animated comedy-adventure show inspired by the award-winning Skylanders franchise, will debut October 28 on Netflix. Jam-packed with humor and heart, Skylanders Academy promises to keep viewers on the edge of their seats with epic action for kids of all ages. This Netflix original series will debut 13 episodes in 190 countries on October 28, with a second season planned in late 2017.
Led by showrunner Eric Rogers (Futurama), the series features the voices of Justin Long (DodgeBall) as Spyro; Ashley Tisdale (High School Musical) as Stealth Elf; Jonathan Banks (Breaking Bad) as Eruptor; and Norm MacDonald (Saturday Night Live) as Glumshanks. Additional voice talent includes Susan Sarandon, Daniel Wu, Bobcat Goldthwait, The Diamond Minecart, Parker Posey, James Hetfield, Catherine O’Hara, Chris Diamantopoulos and Harland Williams, among others.
Since Skylanders pioneered the Toy-to-Life category in 2011 in which consumers have invested
billions of dollars, the award-winning brand has delighted fans worldwide. Skylanders is supported by a comprehensive global kids licensing and promotional programs that includes premier European partners such as: Power A (Videogame Accessories), Aykroyds (Nightwear), Fashion UK (Apparel), GBEye (Posters), Danilo (Calendars/Gifting), Immediate Media (Magazine), among others.
Destiny
Destiny, the epic action shooter from Bungie, continues to draw a highly engaged fan base into its rich worlds with more than 30 million registered players.
Last year’s Destiny: The Taken King drove massive success for the brand. Additionally, Bungie and Activision recently launched the highly anticipated, large expansion to the Destiny universe Destiny: Rise of Iron, which drove record-setting pre-orders* for any individual Destiny expansion to date. In Destiny: Rise of Iron, the all-new, cinematic-filled adventure sets players on a heroic journey to battle an ancient, vicious enemy from the past and ultimately earn their place in history.
Bungie, in collaboration with Activision, work with new and existing leading licensing and promotional partners to expand the Destiny adventure for fans. The roster of Destiny’s licensees include: MEGA Brands/Mattel (Construction Sets), Funko (Pop Vinyl Figures), BioWorld (Apparel), Insight Editions (Art Books, Journals and Poster Books), GB Eye (Accessories), Cooke and Becker (Fine Art Prints), The Coop (Bags and Collectibles), GB Eye (Accessories), Accutime (Watches), Trends (Posters), ThreeA (Collectible Figures), McFarlane Toys (Collectible Figures), KontrolFreek (Gaming Accessories), Insert Coin (Apparel), Rubber Road (Apparel and Accessories), Musterbrand (Fashion Apparel) and Akroyds (Nightware).
As the story of Destiny unfolds, the licensing program continues to expand. Visit the Bungie Store at: http://bungiestore.com.
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