SANTA MONICA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Activision Publishing, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI), announced today exciting products from partners General Mills and Crayola® that will bring new Skylanders® experiences to fans. Starting this month, fans in North America can start their mornings by playing an interactive version of the popular Skylanders Skystones mini-game via specially-marked Big G cereal boxes. Portal Masters also can be on the lookout for Skylanders® Trap Team Crayola Color Alive! Starter Packs in April that will allow kids to bring their coloring to life. Additionally, new Valentine’s Day and springtime Skylanders Trap Team toys also have been unveiled in anticipation of New York Toy Fair.
“We’re excited to extend our relationships with General Mills and Crayola for yet another year,” said Ashley Maidy, vice president of global licensing and partnerships at Activision Publishing, Inc. “Both brands are category leaders and have long been a mainstay for kids around the world. We believe these partnerships match the affinity our fans express for the Skylanders franchise.”
Beginning February 14, General Mills will bring the fan-favorite Skylanders Skystones game to select Big G cereal boxes, marking Activision’s first entry into the cereal category. Available at participating retailers across North America, fans will find Skylanders Skystones packs inside boxes of Honey Nut Cheerios, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Reese’s Puffs, Trix, Lucky Charms and more while supplies last. There are four sets of Skylanders Skystones to collect, and each set contains 10 cards, two of which are ultra-powerful “boss” villain cards that will unlock exclusive content in the free Skylanders Collection Vault™ app. Skylanders Skystones is a popular head-to-head mini-game found in Skylanders Trap Team and other previous Skylanders games.
“As one of the most popular kids videogame franchises in the world, Skylanders was an obvious choice as a partner for Big G interactive cereal boxes,” said Lisa Kessel, manager of Big G. “We are thrilled to have the opportunity to partner with Activision to bring Skylanders Skystones cards to the breakfast table, adding even more fun to the cereals that fans already know and love.”
Additionally, special Crayola edition of the Skylanders Trap Team Starter Pack will be available on store shelves in early April 2015. The limited edition packaging will feature unique black and white line art of Skylanders characters for Portal Masters to color using Crayola’s Magic Crayons included in the Starter Pack. Fans can then watch the characters come alive on their smartphones or tablets using Crayola’s new Color Alive! 4D Experience augmented reality technology. This limited Starter Pack will be exclusively available at Toys“R”Us for the suggested retail price of $74.99 on Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, Nintendo’s Wii™ system, Nintendo’s Wii U™ system, PlayStation® 3 computer entertainment system and select iPad®, Kindle Fire and Android tablets.
“We are thrilled to expand our partnership with Activision and bring the hugely popular Skylanders characters into the new, innovative Crayola Color Alive! franchise,” said Warren Schorr, vice president of licensing at Crayola. “Activision shares the same passion as Crayola to bring creative experiences to kids around the world, and with Skylanders as one of the premiere titles in Color Alive!, kids can have limitless fun customizing their favorite characters and bringing them to life.”
Fans also can enjoy their Skylanders characters in a new way with Crayola’s Color Alive! Skylanders coloring book, available now for a limited time on store shelves nationwide. Children can activate the special Crayola 4D Experience™ through the Color Alive! app by aiming their mobile phone or tablet camera at the coloring page to bring their unique Skylanders drawings to life. The included Magic Crayon transforms coloring by activating special effects through drawing on the page in real-time. Kids also can interact and take photos with the coloring book characters. The Color Alive! app is available on iPad, Android and Windows smartphones and tablets, as well as iPod® Touch.
In addition to the exciting new offerings from General Mills and Crayola, Activision is bringing several special edition toys to the Skylanders Trap Team roster. Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Love Potion Pop Fizz – a wild-and-crazy, potion-brewing hero from Skylands – is available now and features a limited edition design both in-game and on the toy.
Parents looking for the perfect toys to include in Easter baskets can get their hands on the springtime editions of fully playable, pocket-sized Skylanders Minis toys, Power Punch Pet-Vac and Eggsellent Weeruptor. This year, Pet-Vac is aiming to break the all-time Skylander record for number of eggs collected, while Eggsellent Weeruptor has disguised himself as a candy-coated egg, having been chosen as the mascot in the Skylands Annual Dragon Egg Hunt. Lastly, Portal Masters can now use the new limited edition Earth Trap, inspired by the Easter Bunny, to trap Skylands’ most notorious villains.
Skylanders has sold through more than 240 million toys², outselling all top action-figure lines worldwide in 2014 for the third consecutive year³.
About the Skylanders® Franchise
The award-winning, $3 billion Skylanders videogame franchise¹ featuring the Toys to Life interactive figures, portal and accessories that seamlessly bridge the physical and virtual worlds across multiple platforms, debuted in 2011 with Skylanders® Spyro’s Adventure. In October 2012, Skylanders® Giants expanded interactivity with its mega-sized Giant Skylanders collectible figures and LightCore® characters. Skylanders® SWAP Force™ launched in October 2013 and introduced an all-new play pattern - swapability. Skylanders was the top selling kids' videogame franchise of 2014¹ worldwide and is the 15th best-selling videogame franchise of all time⁴. Skylanders® Trap Team further enhances the capabilities of the Toys to Life figures, Traps, and an advanced Traptanium Portal™ allowing kids to reverse the magic by pulling 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. is a leading global producer and publisher of interactive entertainment. Activision maintains operations throughout the world. 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, including statements about the release date of the Crayola edition Skylanders Trap Team starter pack 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.
© 2015 Activision Publishing, Inc., SKYLANDERS, SKYLANDERS TRAP TEAM, TOYS TO LIFE, SKYLANDERS COLLECTION VAULT, SKYLANDERS SWAP FORCE, SWAP FORCE, SKYLANDERS GIANTS, SKYLANDERS SPYRO’S ADVENTURE, LIGHTCORE, and ACTIVISION are trademarks of Activision Publishing, Inc.
¹Based on retail sales, according to The NPD Group,
Gfk Chart-Track ® and Activision internal estimates, including toys and
accessories
²Based on Activision Blizzard internal
estimates
³According to The NPD Group and Activision Blizzard
internal estimates for the years 2012, 2013, 2014
⁴According to The
NPD Group, GfK Chart-Track, Activision Blizzard internal estimates,
including toys and accessories, based retail sales in North America and
Europe. All time since NPD and GfK Chart-Track began recording data.
