Skylanders Toys Outsold #1 Action Figures U.S. and Europe in 2012³

London, UK - 10 ^th February 2013 - Activision Publishing, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI), announced that together Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure and Skylanders Giants have generated more than $1 billion in retail sales worldwide, inclusive of toys and accessories -- and the franchise reached this milestone in just 15 months.¹ 

In 2012, the combined sales of Skylanders Giants and Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure toys out-sold the top action figure lines in the U.S. and Europe, including Beyblades, Star Wars and Transformers.³ Additionally, through January this year, more than 100 million Skylanders toys have been sold at retail.²

“The Skylanders franchise became the first kids’ videogame IP to cross the $1 billion mark in just 15 months ⁴, and I think we are still just starting to realise its potential,” said Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing, Inc. “We knew that the simple, but magical idea, of bringing your toys to life in a video game could change both the video game and the toy industries, and more importantly, change the way kids play.   And this autumn, we’re looking forward to delivering to fans our latest break-through innovation, Skylanders SWAP Force™, which lets kids customise their own characters, bringing toys to life to a whole new level.”

Skylanders SWAP Force lets Portal Masters reconfigure 16 special SWAP Force™ characters into more than 250 unique combinations.  Kids can mix and match characters’ powers and moves and then bring them to life in the game. In addition to the new SWAP Force characters, the game features 32 core Skylanders characters (16 completely new Skylanders characters and 16 new versions of fan-favourite characters from previous games) and eight new LightCore™ characters. 

Fans of the franchise can also play Skylanders SWAP Force with their entire collection of toys from both Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure and Skylanders Giants, now with the added capability of jumping. The new game also delivers high-resolution graphics that bring detailed characters and rich environments to life, immersing players in the gameplay like never before.   

The recently revealed Skylanders SWAP Force is currently being showcased at Toy Fair 2013, 10 ^th -13 ^th February at the Javits Center in New York City in booth 3061.

About the Skylanders Franchise

In 2011, Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure originated a new play pattern that seamlessly bridged physical and virtual worlds across multiple platforms and became the top-selling kids’ videogame of the year ². In October of 2012, Skylanders Giants further evolved the genre and added the mega-sized Giants and LightCore ™ characters to the collection of interaction figures. Skylanders Giants™ was awarded the “e-Connected Toy of the Year” at the 13 ^th Annual Toy of the Year (TOTY) Awards.  The next innovation in the franchise Skylanders SWAP Force , expected to be released in autumn 2013, is being developed by Vicarious Visions, an Activision studio. The game has not yet been rated by PEGI. For more information, visit www.skylanders.com.

About Activision Publishing, Inc.

Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, Activision Publishing, Inc. is a leading 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, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia, mainland China and the region of Taiwan. More information about Activision and its products can be found on the company’s website, www.activision.com. 

¹Inclusive of toys and accessory packs, according to The NPD Group, GfK Chart-track and Activision Internal estimates

²Inclusive of toys and accessory packs, according to The NPD Group, GfK Chart-track and Activision Internal Estimates

³According to Activision Internal Estimates

⁴Inclusive of toys and accessory packs, according to The NPD Group, GfK Chart-track and Activision Internal Estimates

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.

SKYLANDERS SWAP FORCE, SKYLANDERS GIANTS, SKYLANDERS SPYRO’S ADVENTURE, LIGHTCORE, and ACTIVISION are trademarks of Activision Publishing, Inc.

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