BlizzCon® 2009 Gaming Convention Begins This Week
IRVINE, Calif., Aug 18, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Blizzard Entertainment's two-day gaming festival, BlizzCon(R) 2009, begins on Friday, August 21, at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California. The convention celebrates Blizzard Entertainment's Warcraft(R), StarCraft(R), and Diablo(R) game universes and the communities of players surrounding them. Attendees of the sold-out show will be able to play the latest versions of Blizzard Entertainment(R) games as well as speak with developers in discussion panels, participate in tournaments and contests, and meet with fellow gamers and friends.
The show will close on Saturday evening with an epic concert featuring the Prince of Darkness himself, Ozzy Osbourne. In addition, Blizzard Entertainment's own Warcraft-themed metal band Level 80 Elite Tauren Chieftain will be performing, and Jay Mohr has returned to act as the master of ceremonies for the community contests taking place on Friday.
Those unable to attend are still able to purchase a "virtual ticket" to the show, featuring more than 18 hours of live coverage as well as the exclusive BlizzCon 2009 World of Warcraft in-game pet. This package is available both via Internet stream in over 100 countries and in HD through DIRECTV(R) satellite television service. Visit the official BlizzCon website, www.blizzcon.com, for more information on the virtual ticket, or to read daily coverage of the show's highlights.
"With each BlizzCon, we strive to offer a truly unforgettable weekend of entertainment for every attendee, as well as those joining us from home," said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. "We look forward to meeting players and sharing the latest news about Blizzard games with them, and we appreciate the contributions of our partners in helping us make this year's show our biggest and best yet."
BlizzCon would not be possible without the enthusiasm of Blizzard Entertainment gamers around the world and the generous support of the event's sponsors, who provide demo station hardware and peripherals, contest prizes, and more. This year's platinum-level sponsors are ASUS, DIRECTV, Intel, Mountain Dew, NVIDIA, and Razer; the gold-level sponsors are Cisco, Dell, Kingston, SteelSeries, and Vasco.
Anyone attending BlizzCon who is interested in pursuing career opportunities at Blizzard Entertainment should bring their resumes, demo reels, art portfolios, or business cards, as the global staffing team will be on hand to accept materials and discuss any job-related questions.
About Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.
Best known for blockbuster hits including World of Warcraft(R) and the Warcraft(R), StarCraft(R), and Diablo(R) series, Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. (www.blizzard.com), a division of Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI), is a premier developer and publisher of entertainment software renowned for creating some of the industry's most critically acclaimed games. Blizzard Entertainment(R)'s track record includes eleven #1-selling games and multiple Game of the Year awards. The company's online-gaming service, Battle.net(R), is one of the largest in the world, with millions of active users.
For press inquiries, please contact Shon Damron in Blizzard Entertainment public relations at sdamron@blizzard.com or (949) 854-5100.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements: Information in this press release that involves Blizzard Entertainment'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. Blizzard Entertainment generally uses words such as "outlook,""will," "could," "would," "might," "remains," "to be," "plans," "believes," "may," "expects," "intends," "anticipates," "estimate," future," "plan," "positioned," "potential," "project," "remain," "scheduled," "set to," "subject to," "upcoming," and similar expressions to help identify forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause Blizzard Entertainment's actual future results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements set forth in this release include, but are not limited to, sales of Blizzard Entertainment's titles, shifts in consumer spending trends, the seasonal and cyclical nature of the interactive game market, Blizzard Entertainment's ability to predict consumer preferences among competing hardware platforms (including next-generation hardware), declines in software pricing, product returns and price protection, product delays, retail acceptance of Blizzard Entertainment's products, adoption rate and availability of new hardware and related software, industry competition, rapid changes in technology and industry standards, protection of proprietary rights, litigation against Blizzard Entertainment, maintenance of relationships with key personnel, customers, vendors and third-party developers, domestic and international economic, financial and political conditions and policies, foreign exchange rates, integration of recent acquisitions and the identification of suitable future acquisition opportunities, Activision Blizzard's success in integrating the operations of Activision Publishing and Vivendi Games in a timely manner, or at all, and the combined company's ability to realize the anticipated benefits and synergies of the transaction to the extent, or in the timeframe, anticipated. Other such factors include additional risk factors identified in 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 Blizzard Entertainment and Activision Blizzard as of the date of this release, and neither Blizzard Entertainment 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 Blizzard Entertainment 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.
SOURCE: Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.
Blizzard Entertainment
Shon Damron, 949-854-5100
sdamron@blizzard.com
Copyright Business Wire 2009