SANTA MONICA, Calif. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — July 24, 2014 — Today at San Diego Comic-Con, Activision Publishing, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) announced plans to bring “Eon’s Elite,” a new set of premium toys, to Skylanders® fans worldwide this fall. The limited edition Eon’s Elite will introduce eight must-have collectible versions of fan-favorite Skylanders characters, beginning with Spyro and Chop Chop.
In this photo distributed by Activision Publishing Inc., Skylanders fans celebrate the upcoming launch of Skylanders Trap Team by participating in a costume contest at San Diego Comic-Con 2014 on July 24, 2014 in San Diego, California. Shannon Deeds beat out other contestants for the ultimate prize and bragging rights of being the best costumed character, Scratch. (Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Activision)
The heroes in the “Eon’s Elite” roster hail from the original Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure® and have been carefully selected by Master Eon for displaying undaunted courage and commitment to defending all of Skylands. Eon’s Elite features a never-before-seen decoration with a distinct, metallic finish and a golden base that sets them apart from other Skylanders toys. Each of these special edition toys will be offered in premium foil packaging and also features a display case with a 3D lenticular background. Additionally, when played in-game, Eon’s Elite will be up to three times as powerful over other characters, which represents the biggest in-game boosts ever incorporated into a Skylanders toy to date.
“Eon’s Elite represents the most iconic characters from the original Skylanders game that started it all,” said Josh Taub, senior vice president of product marketing at Activision Publishing. “These eight toys are not only premium quality but also honor the characters’ strength, courage and commitment. We’re excited to extend our fans’ collections with this new line.”
Eon’s Elite characters will be available in limited quantities at GameStop and EB Games stores in North America, Australia and New Zealand, and select retailers in Europe this fall while supplies last.
About Skylanders Trap Team™
Launching in October, Skylanders Trap Team brings a ground-breaking innovation to the Skylanders franchise by reversing the magic of its signature Toys-To-Life™ play pattern to let kids bring life-to-toys for the first time. With Skylanders Trap Team, Portal Masters seek out and defeat the most wanted villains in all of Skylands, pulling them out of the game and into living rooms by capturing them in magical Traps. Players can then send villains back into the game where they play as them to fight for good. The game will include the Traptanium PortalTM, a new ring of magical energy that enables kids to not only bring their Skylanders to life, but also magically capture villains using the new Traps. Once they’ve defeated the villains, kids will be able to place a Trap into the new portal to capture them. They will also be able to hear the villains inside the Traps, an innovation that truly brings life to toys. Skylanders Trap Team will be available on Xbox 360™ and Xbox One™ video game and entertainment systems from Microsoft, PlayStation® 3 and PlayStation® 4 computer entertainment systems, Nintendo’s Wii™ system, Nintendo’s Wii U™ system, and a completely unique adventure available on the Nintendo 3DS™ hand-held system.
About the Skylanders® Franchise
The award-winning, $2 billion Skylanders franchise pioneered the Toys-to-Life category in 2011 with the debut of Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure. The game originated a new play pattern that seamlessly bridged physical and virtual worlds across multiple platforms. In October 2012, Skylanders Giants™ further evolved the genre and added the mega-sized Giant Skylanders and LightCore® characters to the collection of interaction figures. Skylanders SWAP ForceTM launched in October 2013 and introduced an all-new play pattern – swapability. The Skylanders franchise was the top selling kids’ videogame of 2013¹, and is now one of the top 20 videogame franchises of all time². Skylanders Trap Team, the newest installment due out in North America on October 5, 2014, reverses the magic of bringing toys to life – incredibly letting kids pull characters out of the digital world into the physical world. For more information, please visit: www.skylanders.com and Activision.com/presscenter.
About Activision Publishing
Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, Activision Publishing, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI), today is a leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment and leisure products. Activision maintains operations in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Spain, Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia, Singapore, mainland China, Hong Kong and the region of Taiwan. More information about Activision and its products can be found on the company’s website, www.activision.com.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements: Information in this press release that involves Activision Publishing’s expectations, plans, intentions or strategies regarding the future are forward-looking statements that are not facts and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause Activision Publishing’s actual future results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements set forth in this release include unanticipated product delays and other factors identified in the risk factors sections of Activision Blizzard’s most recent annual report on Form 10-K and any subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. The forward-looking statements in this release are based upon information available to Activision Publishing and Activision Blizzard as of the date of this release, and neither Activision Publishing nor Activision Blizzard assumes any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements believed to be true when made may ultimately prove to be incorrect. These statements are not guarantees of the future performance of Activision Publishing or Activision Blizzard and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond its control and may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations.
1 Based on revenue, according to The NPD Group, Gfk Chart-Track and Activision Blizzard internal estimates, including toys and accessories.
2 According to The NPD Group, GfK Chart-Track and Activision Blizzard internal estimates, including toys and accessories. All time since NPD and GfK Chart-track began recording data.
© 2014 Activision Publishing, Inc., SKYLANDERS, SKYLANDERS TRAP TEAM, SKYLANDERS SWAP FORCE, SKYLANDERS GIANTS, SKYLANDERS SPYRO’S ADVENTURE, TRAPTANIUM PORTAL, LIGHTCORE, TOYS TO LIFE and ACTIVISION are trademarks of Activision Publishing, Inc.
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