“We’re thrilled to have Metallica blowing out our speakers at BlizzCon this year,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “After two full days of epic gaming and intense eSports action, an earth-shaking concert is the perfect sendoff for everyone at the show and watching from home.”
BlizzCon is a celebration of the global player communities surrounding Blizzard Entertainment’s Warcraft, Diablo, and StarCraft game universes. Taking place November 7 and 8 at the Anaheim Convention Center, this year’s show will feature a wide array of activities, including discussion panels, tournaments, contests, hands-on play time with the latest Blizzard Entertainment games, and more.
Tickets to the convention are sold out, but viewers at home can join the excitement by ordering the BlizzCon Virtual Ticket ($39.99 USD), which offers comprehensive live online coverage of both days of the event—including the community contests hosted by Chris Hardwick on Friday evening and Metallica’s performance on Saturday night.
In addition to the BlizzCon Virtual Ticket, DIRECTV customers in the United States have the option to watch the show from home by ordering the BlizzCon 2014 Pay Per View event, priced at $39.99 USD (includes access to the Virtual Ticket online stream). Visit www.directv.com/blizzcon for more details.
As BlizzCon draws closer, further details about the show will be announced at www.blizzcon.com. With multiple games in development, Blizzard Entertainment has numerous positions currently available—visit http://jobs.blizzard.com for more information and to learn how to apply.
About Metallica
Formed in 1981 by drummer Lars Ulrich and guitarist and vocalist James Hetfield, Metallica have become one of the most influential and commercially successful rock bands in history, having sold 110 million albums worldwide and playing to millions of fans the world over. They have scored several multi-platinum albums, including 1991’s Metallica (commonly referred to as “The Black Album”), which is the best-selling album in the history of Soundscan, scanning 16 million albums in the United States alone.
Their latest studio album, Death Magnetic, was certified platinum just six weeks after it debuted atop the Billboard Top 200 Album chart in October 2008. Death Magnetic charted at #1 in 32 countries and sold five million copies worldwide. Metallica have also garnered numerous awards and accolades, including nine Grammy Awards, two American Music Awards, and multiple MTV Video Music Awards, and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in 2009.
The band celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2011 with a week’s worth of fan club concerts at the Fillmore Theater in San Francisco, CA. In 2012, Metallica unveiled a brand new stage in Mexico City that featured iconic elements that spanned its 30-year career and is featured in the film Metallica Through the Never. They played eight shows to nearly 180,000 fans at the Sports Arena in Mexico City.
Picturehouse released Metallica Through the Never in North America on September 27, 2013. The music-driven, 3D motion picture film immerses audiences in a bracing, raw, and visceral cinematic experience with spectacular live performance footage of Metallica's most iconic songs—created exclusively for film—combined with a bold, narrative story featuring imagery drawn from the band's trailblazing iconography.
In December 2013, Metallica performed a rare concert in Antarctica where all attendees listened to the performance through headphones to protect the environment. With that show, the band made history by becoming the first act to ever play all seven continents (all within a year), earning themselves a spot in the 60th Anniversary Edition of the Guinness Book of World Records. Metallica performed “One” with Chinese pianist and Grammy Ambassador Lang Lang on the 56th Annual Grammy Awards on January 26, and two days later Metallica Through the Never was released on DVD and Blu-Ray. On November 24, 2014, Metallica will release a 10-year anniversary 2-disc Blu-Ray of their long out-of-print, groundbreaking movie, METALLICA: Some Kind of Monster. For more information, visit www.metallica.com.
About Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.
Best known for blockbuster hits including World of Warcraft® and the Warcraft®, StarCraft®, and Diablo® franchises, 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’s track record includes eighteen #1 games* and multiple Game of the Year awards. The company’s online-gaming service, Battle.net, is one of the largest in the world, with millions of active players.
*Based on internal company records and reports from key distribution partners.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements: Information in this press release that involves Blizzard Entertainment's expectations, plans, intentions or strategies regarding the future, including statements about BlizzCon and the BlizzCon Virtual Ticket, are forward-looking statements that are not facts and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. 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 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 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.
Best known for blockbuster hits including World of Warcraft® and the Warcraft®, StarCraft®, and Diablo® franchises, 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’s track record includes eighteen #1 games* and multiple Game of the Year awards. The company’s online-gaming service, Battle.net, is one of the largest in the world, with millions of active players.
*Based on internal company records and reports from key distribution partners.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements: Information in this press release that involves Blizzard Entertainment's expectations, plans, intentions or strategies regarding the future, including statements about BlizzCon and the BlizzCon Virtual Ticket, are forward-looking statements that are not facts and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. 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 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 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.