Soundgarden and Guitar Hero® Break New Ground in Epic Collaboration for the Launch of Guitar Hero®: Warriors of Rock

Soundgarden and Guitar Hero® Break New Ground in Epic Collaboration for the Launch of Guitar Hero®: Warriors of Rock

Telephantasm - First New Soundgarden Album in Over 10 Years - to be Bundled with 1 Million Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock Launch Units Telephantasm to be Released as Downloadable Content Day and Date with the Game this September New Single 'Black Rain' to Debut Exclusively in Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Aug. 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Hot on the heels of their highly anticipated reunion, GRAMMY® award-winning rockers Soundgarden and Activision Publishing Inc.'s (NASDAQ:ATVI) Guitar Hero®: Warriors of Rock will come together this September in a groundbreaking collaboration that marks the first time a new music album will be simultaneously released and bundled with a video game. All one million North American Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock launch units will contain Telephantasm, a 12-song career-spanning album, and will be exclusively available with the game for one week, prior to the album's retail release. Additionally, day and date with the launch of the game, fans and gamers alike will get full access to the band's new album as downloadable content for Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock. Delivering fans original content exclusively playable in Guitar Hero®, axe shredders, drummers and fearless frontmen will also have the opportunity to rock out to "Black Rain," the band's amazing, all-new single, as part of the 90+ on-disc song selection of shredtastic rock music.

"We're extremely excited to be collaborating with Soundgarden on this monumental moment in their music career," said Tim Riley, Vice President of Music Affairs for Guitar Hero. "Guitar Hero continues to break new ground by being the preeminent interactive platform for debuting original content and a stage for the biggest acts in all genres of rock and roll to reach new audiences in an all-new way."

In Addition, on September 28th A&M/UMe will be releasing three expanded versions of Telephantasm which will include a double-disc with 12 additional tracks, five of which are previously unreleased, and Soundgarden's first-ever DVD, featuring 20 videos, 13 of which have never been released, a Deluxe 3-LP Vinyl Edition and an individually numbered Super Deluxe Collector's Edition. The Super Deluxe Collector's Edition will be available for a limited time and will include two CDs, the limited edition DVD, three heavy vinyl discs, a collectible poster, lithos, and much more. These three expanded versions will be available at all music retail outlets and on the band's website.

In Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, join with friends on an epic rock journey to save rock. Featuring an impressive 90+ track set list and a host of all-new gameplay features, living room legends and their friends can strum, drum and wail in the most immersive music videogame experience to date. Delivering the quintessential rock music collection that focuses on guitar shredding hits from bands such as Black Sabbath, Slipknot and Megadeth and larger-than-life band anthems from Queen, Muse and KISS, players can unleash more rewards and unlockable content than ever before in Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock's Quest Mode, the franchise's first ever story-based mode, and Quickplay+, which invites challenge-starved fanatics to test their rock skills. Running on the powerful Guitar Hero engine that has been expanded and refined and with encores from the critically-acclaimed and fan favorite gameplay features that made Guitar Hero one of the most popular franchises of all-time - such as Party Play, Competitive modes and any combination of up to four instruments - the game offers a complete interactive and connected experience bringing friends and foes to the stage in the ultimate rock music experience.

Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock is being developed by Neversoft Entertainment for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system and by Vicarious Visions for the Wii(TM) system from Nintendo. The game is not yet rated by the ESRB. For more information about Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, please visit GuitarHero.com.

About Activision Publishing, Inc.

Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, Activision Publishing, Inc. is a leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment and leisure products.

Activision maintains operations in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Spain, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia, South Korea, China and the region of Taiwan. More information about Activision and its products can be found on the company's website, www.activision.com.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements: Information in this press release that involves Activision Publishing'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. Activision Publishing 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 identify forward-looking statements. 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, but are not limited to, sales levels of Activision Publishing's titles, shifts in consumer spending trends, the impact of the current macroeconomic environment, the seasonal and cyclical nature of the interactive game market, Activision Publishing's ability to predict consumer preferences among competing hardware platforms, declines in software pricing, product returns and price protection, product delays, retail acceptance of Activision Publishing's products, adoption rate and availability of new hardware (including peripherals) and related software, industry competition including from used games and other forms of entertainment, litigation risks and associated costs, rapid changes in technology, industry standards, business models including online and used games, and consumer preferences, including interest in specific genres such as music, first-person action and massively multiplayer online games, protection of proprietary rights, maintenance of relationships with key personnel, customers, licensees, licensors, vendors, and third-party developers, including the ability to attract, retain and develop key personnel and developers that can create high quality "hit" titles, counterparty risks relating to customers, licensees, licensors and manufacturers, domestic and international economic, financial and political conditions and policies, foreign exchange rates and tax rates, and the identification of suitable future acquisition opportunities and potential challenges associated with geographic expansion, and the 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.

Guitar Hero, Band Hero and Activision are registered trademarks of Activision Publishing, Inc. All other trademarks and trade names are the properties of their respective owners. All rights reserved.

"PlayStation" is a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Microsoft, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox LIVE, and the Xbox logos are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. Wii is a trademark of Nintendo. All rights reserved.

Source: Activision Publishing, Inc.

CONTACT: Lindsay Morio, Publicist, Activision/Guitar Hero,
+1-424-744-5733, lmorio@guitarhero.com

Web Site: http://www.activision.com/

Company News On-Call: http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/007396.html

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