Press Release
SANTA MONICA,
Calif., Dec. 12, 2011 /PRNewswire/
-- Activision Publishing, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary
of Activision Blizzard, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI), announced
today that Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare™ 3 crossed
the $1 billion mark in sales since its launch on November
8, 2011, according to Charttrack and retail customer sell-through
information. Highlighting the trend of interactive
entertainment gaining a greater hold of audiences worldwide, the game
achieved this milestone in just 16 days, eclipsing the record set in
2009 by the feature film "Avatar," which reached the $1
billion milestone in 17 days.
While 2011 box office
revenue is on the decline — down 4 percent this year at $9.4
billion, compared with $9.8 billion in 2010 -- the number
of people purchasing and participating in gaming is on the rise, with
no sign of slowing.(1) With more than 30 million gamers,
the Call of Duty community now exceeds the combined
populations of the cities of New
York, London, Tokyo, Paris and Madrid.
"Engagement of our
Call of Duty audience continues to rise around the world"
said Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard. "Call
of Duty® as an entertainment franchise has made an indelible mark on
popular culture and its broad and continued success is further
validation that audiences increasingly value interactive experiences
over passive experiences.
Call of Duty is
now amongst that rarified group of sustained franchises like "Star
Wars", "Harry Potter", "Lord of the Rings"
and the National Football League (NFL) that attract or
engage tens of millions of people every year or every new release.
Our Call of Duty
Elite is one of the fastest growing online services ever with
more than six million players registered since its launch November
8, 2011 and over one million premium subscriptions sold to date.
By comparison, the premium subscription services of
Netflix, Hulu Plus, Sirius XM and Xbox® LIVE®, did not reach one
million paid subscribers until almost one year after launch.
"Call of Duty has
become that rare entertainment franchise that transcends its own
genre. Core gamers love it, as our stellar reviews show. But every
year, new people are drawn into Call of Duty," said Eric
Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing. "And while
the franchise continues to set records, our fans still seem to want
more, demonstrated by our record setting start on Call of Duty
Elite. We are committed to helping everyone connect, compete and
improve their game, Call of Duty style."
About Activision
Publishing, Inc.
Headquartered in Santa
Monica, California, Activision Publishing, Inc. is a
leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive
entertainment and leisure products.
Activision
Publishing is a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard which
maintains operations in the U.S., Canada, the United
Kingdom, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Spain, Norway, Denmark, the
Netherlands, Australia, South Korea, China 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 Blizzard's expectations, plans,
intentions or strategies regarding the future, including statements
with respect to the future of the interactive entertainment industry
and the future performance of Activision's Call of Duty franchise,
are forward-looking statements that are not facts and involve a
number of risks and uncertainties. Factors that
could cause actual future results to differ materially from the views
expressed in these forward-looking statements include, but are not
limited to, shifts in consumer spending trends, the impact of the
current macroeconomic environment and market conditions within the
video game industry, Activision Blizzard's ability to predict
consumer preferences, including interest in specific genres such as
first-person action and preferences among competing hardware
platforms, competition, including from used games and other forms of
entertainment, possible declines in software pricing, product returns
and price protection, product delays, adoption rate and availability
of new hardware (including peripherals) and related software, rapid
changes in technology and industry standards, the cyclical nature of
the interactive game market, protection of proprietary rights,
maintenance of relationships with key personnel, customers,
licensees, licensors, vendors, and third-party developers, including
the ability to attract, retain and develop key personnel and
developers that can create high quality "hit" titles, and
the other factors identified in the risk factors section
of Activision Blizzard's most recent annual report on Form
10-K. The forward-looking statements in this release are
based upon information available to Activision Blizzard as
of the date of this release, and Activision Blizzard assumes
no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements.
Although these forward-looking statements are believed to be true
when made, they may ultimately prove to be incorrect. These
statements are not guarantees of the future performance of Activision
Blizzard or of the overall interactive entertainment industry
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.
ACTIVISION, CALL OF
DUTY and MODERN WARFARE are registered trademarks and CALL OF DUTY
MW3 is a trademark of Activision Publishing, Inc. All other
trademarks and trade names are the properties of their respective
owners.
Xbox 360, Xbox
LIVE, and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks
of Microsoft Corporation. "PlayStation" is a registered
trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Wii and
Nintendo DS are trademarks of Nintendo.
(1)According
to boxofficemojo.com and PricewaterhouseCoopers'Global
Entertainment and Media Outlook
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