Dark Horse Comics Teams Up with Blizzard Entertainment for Overwatch® Publishing Program

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: SAN DIEGO, CA — Dark Horse Comics and Blizzard Entertainment have joined forces on a publishing program centered around the hottest game of the year, Overwatch®. The program consists of a slate of products based on Blizzard’s team shooter, including digital comics, a graphic novel, and an art book. Dark Horse has already begun republishing a series of free digital comics by Blizzard Entertainment that further illuminate the characters and world of Overwatch. A number of eight-page digital comics are already available through Dark Horse’s digital comics platforms, with more currently in production and slated for release in the future. A hardcover original Overwatch graphic novel has been slotted for release in April 2017. This brand-new entry in the Overwatch canon will contain one hundred pages of sequential artwork telling the story of the original Overwatch strike team. Summer 2017 will see the release of The Art of Overwatch, a stunning collection of never-before-seen concept art from the critically acclaimed game. Stay tuned for more details regarding The Art of Overwatch. Also announced this week, Dark Horse and Blizzard have set the date for the second volume of their best-selling World of Warcraft® series. Earlier this year, Dark Horse Books and Blizzard Entertainment released World of Warcraft Chronicle: Volume I, which has over eighty thousand copies in print and charted on the New York Times Best Sellers list. ### About Dark Horse For 30 years, Dark Horse Comics has proven to be a solid example of how integrity and innovation can help broaden a unique storytelling medium and establish a small, homegrown company as an industry giant. Founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson, the company is known for the progressive and creator-friendly atmosphere it provides for writers and artists. In addition to publishing comics from top talent, such as Eric Powell, Mike Mignola, Geof Darrow, Brian Wood, Gail Simone, Stan Sakai, and Guillermo del Toro, and comics legends, such as Will Eisner, Milo Manara, Kazuo Koike, Neil Gaiman, and Frank Miller, Dark Horse has developed its own successful properties, such as The Mask, Ghost, X, and Barb Wire. Its successful line of comics, manga, and products based on popular properties includes Dragon Age, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Aliens, Conan, Tomb Raider, Halo, The Witcher, Serenity, Game of Thrones, and Avatar: The Last Airbender. Today Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent comic book publisher in the US and is recognized as one of the world’s leading entertainment publishers. 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 twenty #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.