On Friday, November 6, Nick van Dyk spoke at the annual Blizzcon convention in Anaheim, CA about the creation of a new film studio. The studio is an expansion of Activision’s current business practices into new mediums. “The franchises that Activision Blizzard has cultivated have drawn the largest, most compelling fan bases in the world,” Van Dyk says. Van Dyk is a former Disney executive now co-heading the new studio. With many video game franchises being expanded into movies, TV shows, books, and even other video game genres, having a dedicated film studio for their beloved characters could help Activision far surpass its recent yearly revenue of $4.9 billion.
The studio’s first project will be an animated series called Skylanders Academy, obviously based on the wildly popular Skylanders series. The game series has generated over $3 billion for Activision, including the sales from the toys needed to play the games. “As games evolve into true cross-screen and transmedia franchises, we will see more movie and TV-type content appear that are directly or indirectly linked to games,” said Peter Warman, co-founder of Newzoo. Newzoo is a marketing research firm focusing on video games.
For those who may consider Skylanders too tame, Activision will be following up with Call of Duty movies, with the first film estimated to arrive as early as 2018. Between the film studio and expanding the popularity of e-sports, Activision is certainly living up to its name. But it is our job as gamers who love the medium to show our support and make these dreams a reality. Video games continue to become more and more accepted and appreciated on a global scale, and there is no reason to stop now.
