SANTA MONICA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Bungie and Activision Publishing, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI), announced the introduction of the Destiny 2 Ghost Skill for Alexa, giving players of one of the best-selling video games of 2017 to date* the first-ever Alexa voice integration in a live game experience**. Revealed on stage by Tom Taylor, senior vice president, Amazon Alexa and Byron Beede, Activision’s senior vice president of Product Management for Destiny at the AWS re:Invent 2017 conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, the Destiny 2 Ghost Skill, voiced by the in-game Ghost’s voice actor Nolan North, is available now for Alexa customers to enable, free of charge, through the Alexa app.

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The Destiny 2 Ghost Skill serves as a premier companion for Destiny 2 players, creating brand-new ways to interact with the game, players can say, “Alexa, ask Ghost to…” with a variety of utterances — from “…tell me which friends are online,” to asking “…what should I do next?” giving recommendations for what to play next based on players’ real-time current progress, to “…call for back up,” which offers an easy way to interact with friends in their clan to enhance the social experience of Destiny 2, to “… equip my Raid loadout,” equipping players’ favorite weapons and armor for a number of different gameplay activities, to learning more about the world and characters of Destiny 2 with a request like, “…tell me who are the Red Legion?”

”The Ghost serves as your guide and companion in Destiny 2 the game, and now players will be able to bring that experience into the real world with them through Alexa,” said Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision. “The Destiny 2 Ghost skill is the first of its kind and the most innovative and immersive gaming experience to date on Alexa. We’re excited to give our community of players, who are among the most-dedicated fans in the world, new ways to play Destiny 2 with the Ghost skill and Limited-Edition Destiny 2 Ghost. The lines between in-game and out-of-game have been blurred in an incredible new way.”

“Alexa is now part of the Destiny 2 experience, and we’re excited for what that means for Destiny 2 players and the future of games and voice technology,” said Steve Rabuchin, Vice President, Amazon Alexa. “Gaming is an example of where voice can create a more engaging experience in a natural and delightful way for customers. Rather than interrupting gameplay to navigate menus, players can just ask Ghost through Alexa to help with certain tasks. Players love the Destiny 2 experience, and now Alexa can make it even more immersive and fun.”

“Destiny 2 players being able to interact with a physical Ghost paired with an Amazon Alexa is just a really fun and unique idea,” said Pete Parsons, CEO of Bungie. He added, “With our partners at Activision, it’s been exciting to develop this project into a rich, useful skill worthy of Amazon’s Alexa.”

Also announced is the Limited-Edition Destiny 2 Ghost, a WiFi enabled Ghost speaker which is compatible with Alexa devices to bring the look and sound of the Ghost from inside the game into the real world. The Limited-Edition Destiny 2 Ghost is available for pre-order now at an SRP of $89.99, and can be purchased separately as a companion to Alexa devices. The physical Ghost is not needed to use the free Destiny 2 Ghost skill, but the game and an Alexa device are required. The Limited-Edition Destiny 2 Ghost will be available on December 19, 2017.

Destiny 2 is rated T for Teen by the ESRB and is available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC at a suggested retail price of $59.99. The product line-up also features the Destiny 2 – Game + Expansion Pass Bundle at $89.99 SRP, the Destiny 2 – Digital Deluxe Edition featuring premium digital content at $99.99 SRP, the Limited Edition at $99.99 SRP, and the Collector’s Edition, featuring a fully-wearable Destiny 2 – Frontier Bag, Expansion Pass, premium digital content and a Cabal-themed Collector’s Box for $249.99 SRP. The Destiny 2 Ghost skill for Alexa was developed by Activision and Bungie, with support from AKQA.

For more game information, visit www.DestinyTheGame.com and follow the official Destiny social channels on Facebook and @DestinyTheGame on Instagram and Twitter. The community can interact directly with the developers at www.Bungie.net, Facebook, @Bungie on Twitter, Instagram and www.Twitch.tv/Bungie on Twitch.

About Bungie

Bungie is an independent, employee-owned game development studio dedicated to creating hopeful worlds that inspire passionate player communities. For more than two-and-a-half decades that purpose has led to the creation of some of the industry’s most celebrated gaming franchises, including Marathon, Myth, Halo, and Destiny. Today, Bungie is focused on creating new experiences and adventures for the Destiny 2 community to share.

About Activision Publishing, Inc.

Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, Activision Publishing, Inc. is a leading global producer and publisher of interactive entertainment, including Call of Duty®, Destiny, Skylanders™ and Crash Bandicoot™ some of the world’s most successful interactive entertainment franchises. Activision maintains operations throughout the world and is a division of Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI), an S&P 500 company. More information about Activision and its products can be found on the company's website, www.activision.com or by following @Activision.

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 expected release dates, features and functionality of the Limited Edition Destiny 2 Ghost, 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.

© 2017 Bungie, Inc. All rights reserved. Destiny, the Destiny Logo, Bungie and the Bungie Logo are among the trademarks of Bungie, Inc. Published and distributed by Activision. Activision is a registered trademark of Activision Publishing, Inc. All other trademarks or trade names are the properties of their respective owners.

* Based on NPD 2017 U.S. sales data through October 2017

** Requires Destiny 2 Ghost skill for Amazon Alexa, Destiny 2 game, Alexa app, internet connection, Alexa device, and Bungie.net account

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