THQ Enters Into 10-Year Partnership With JAKKS Pacific for WWF Game License; Top-Five Game Publisher Lands License for Cable Television's Top-Rated Professional Wrestling Series.CALABASAS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 11, 1998--THQ Inc. (Nasdaq/NM:THQI) in partnership with JAKKS Pacific JAKKS Pacific, Inc. NASDAQ: JAKK is is a multi-brand company that designs and markets a broad range of toys and consumer products and is based in Malibu, California. Its product categories include action figures, art activity kits, stationery, writing instruments, performance Inc., a premier manufacturer and marketer of children's toys, Thursday announced that it has signed a 10-year exclusive agreement with Titan Sports Inc. to publish World Wrestling Federation (WWF See Windows Workflow Foundation. ) electronic games Electronic Games was the first video game magazine published in the United States and ran from 1981 to 1985. Co-founded by Arnie Katz, Joyce Worley and Bill Kunkel, it is unrelated to the subsequent Electronic Gaming Monthly. on all platforms. The first games are scheduled for release year-end 1999. The WWF, owned by Titan Sports, is a top syndicated weekly program on the USA Network USA Network is a popular American cable television network with about 89 million household subscribers as of 2005. The network shows a variety of original and second-run programming, from syndicated TV series to edited movies. featuring the superstars of the World Wrestling Federation. Within the last few weeks the WWF cable ratings eclipsed such popular programs as "South Park," the "NBA Playoffs The NBA Playoffs is a four-round best-of-seven elimination tournament between sixteen teams in the Eastern Conference and Western Conferences (called Divisions, pre-1970) of the National Basketball Association, ultimately determining the league champion. ," "WCW WCW World Championship Wrestling WCW Wellesley Centers for Women WCW West Coast Watchers Monday Nitro" and "Rugrats." The wrestling games will be designed, developed, manufactured and marketed by THQ/JAKKS Pacific, a 50/50 joint venture of THQ THQ Toy Headquarters THQ Territorial Headquarters THQ Tehsil Headquarters (Pakistan) THQ The Holy Quran THQ Theater Headquarters and JAKKS Pacific. THQ will oversee product development and sales. THQ and JAKKS Pacific will co-manage the marketing and branding of the WWF interactive game line. THQ/JAKKS Pacific plans to publish a minimum of two WWF games per year during the term of the license. "With top-selling and award-winning wrestling titles on PlayStation and Nintendo 64, THQ promised our game-buying fans and shareholders that we were in the wrestling game business to stay," stated Brian J. Farrell, president and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. , THQ. "This deal underscores that commitment to deliver top quality games on a variety of platforms for a long time with the red-hot WWF." "Professional wrestling Noun 1. professional wrestling - wrestling for money sport - the occupation of athletes who compete for pay rassling, wrestling, grappling - the sport of hand-to-hand struggle between unarmed contestants who try to throw each other down is a competitive business and we believe that THQ/JAKKS's superior wrestling game development and marketing experience will enhance the overall entertainment value of the WWF," said Jim Bell, senior vice president of Licensing and Merchandising, Titan Sports. "For the next 10 years, our partnership will deliver the most realistic and exciting wrestling games to fans worldwide." Stephen Berman, president and COO of JAKKS Pacific stated, "It's a dream team -- the strongest wrestling license, the best-selling line of wrestling action figures and the leading publisher of wrestling game titles all working together." THQ garnered five awards at the recent Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3Expo) in Atlanta from The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, Sony Computer Entertainment and GamePro magazine for its three top-selling wrestling titles. JAKKS Pacific and its affiliates develop, manufacture and market toys and related products for children, including action figures featuring characters from the WWF, die-cast collectible and toy vehicles under the Road Champs and Remco brand names, Child Guidance pre-school toys and a line of fashion dolls and accessories. Titan Sports, the parent company of the WWF, is a privately owned marketing and communications company with its corporate offices located at its world headquarters in Stamford, Conn. The WWF's goal has always been to provide quality family entertainment both live in arenas and on television around the world. Under the guidance and creative force of Vince McMahon, Titan's chairman, the WWF has grown from a northeastern regional business to an international television and marketing enterprise. The business structure in place to create, market and manage this global WWF sports-entertainment property consists of both national and international sales, marketing, promotions, television distribution, properties (domestic and international), publishing, pay-per-view and public relations public relations, activities and policies used to create public interest in a person, idea, product, institution, or business establishment. By its nature, public relations is devoted to serving particular interests by presenting them to the public in the most , making the WWF the leader in sports-entertainment for more than 50 years. THQ develops, publishes and distributes interactive entertainment software worldwide for a variety of hardware platforms including PC CD-ROM CD-ROM: see compact disc. CD-ROM in full compact disc read-only memory Type of computer storage medium that is read optically (e.g., by a laser). , and those manufactured by Nintendo and Sony. The THQ Web site is located at www.thq.com. CONTACT: THQ Inc., Calabasas Aimee Greenholtz, 818/223-3116 (media) Deborah Lake, 818/591-1310 (investors) or JAKKS Pacific Inc. Stephen Berman, 310/456-7799 |
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