Videogame Maker Activision Ventures Into TV and Movies
November 06 2015 - 1:38PM
Dow Jones News
By Joe Flint and Sarah E. Needleman
Activision Blizzard Inc. wants to turn its popular videogame
franchises including "Call of Duty" into movies and television
shows.
The company on Friday said it is creating a film and television
unit to exploit its vast library of intellectual property. Nick van
Dyk, a former senior strategist at Walt Disney Co., has been tapped
as co-president of Activision Blizzard Studios along with a
soon-to-be-named creative executive.
"Our engaged fans can now watch the games they love come to life
across film and television," Activision Chief Executive Bobby
Kotick said in an interview.
Activision's intellectual property -- which ranges from
modern-day blockbusters such as "Destiny" to 1980s classics such as
"Kaboom!" -- has been highly sought after by Hollywood studios for
years but the company always resisted overtures.
"What we needed to do was feel like we could deliver content
that would be enhancing to the franchises and exceptional to the
players and the only way we could do that was by ourselves," Mr.
Kotick said.
The company will work with traditional studios for theatrical
distribution of its films. However, Mr. Kotick also hinted that
Activision won't be beholden to the big screen or the small screen
in terms of platforms for its programming.
"We have the flexibility to decide what's the best way for the
audience to consume that content," he said. That could include
offering content online in an "over-the-top" streaming-video
service similar to World Wrestling Entertainment's network. "We
will look at it on a case-by-case basis," Mr. Kotick said.
Activision said it is planning on "Call of Duty" becoming a
movie and possibly a TV franchise. The company's first production
is a TV version of its popular children's "toys-to-life" franchise
"Skylanders," which in May the company said had raked in more than
$3 billion in global revenue since it launched in 2011. Activision
said it is hiring script writers, editors, directors and other
production talent and that it will have full creative control over
the content its new studio develops.
The PC game "World of Warcraft" is already being made into a
movie by Legendary Entertainment through a deal Blizzard made prior
to Activision acquiring it in 2008.
The launch of a TV and movie studio is the latest in a flurry of
activity for Activision. Earlier this week, the company struck a
deal to acquire King Digital Entertainment PLC for $5.9 billion , a
move aimed at transforming Activision into a leader in the
cutthroat and fast-growing mobile games market. King is the maker
of the smash hit app "Candy Crush Saga," one of the world's most
successful mobile games.
Also, last month Activision Blizzard said it is creating a new
division dedicated to competitive videogames, or so-called
e-sports. Steve Bornstein, a former head of Disney's ESPN who until
last year was the top media executive at the NFL, will be
chairman.
Write to Joe Flint at joe.flint@wsj.com and Sarah E. Needleman
at sarah.needleman@wsj.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 06, 2015 13:23 ET (18:23 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI)
Historical Stock Chart
From Aug 2024 to Sep 2024
Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI)
Historical Stock Chart
From Sep 2023 to Sep 2024