With Call of Duty: Black Ops III hitting stores today and the first full trailer for the Warcraft movie also arriving, Activision Blizzard has announced that they are launching their very own studio dedicated to making movies and TV shows based on their video games. Activision Blizzard Studios will be headed up by former Disney executive Nick van Dyk along with another senior creative executive still to be named. Their first batch of projects will include Skylanders Academy, an animated TV series based on the Skylanders games, and “a robust cinematic universe based on the Call of Duty franchise.” Bobby Kotick, Chief Executive Officer of Activision Blizzard, had this to say about the announcement:

“Activision Blizzard is home to some of the most successful entertainment franchises in history, across any medium. With the launch of Activision Blizzard Studios, our engaged fans can now watch the games they love come to life across film and television… We intend to approach film and television development with the same unwavering commitment to excellence we are known for in game development.”

Van Dyk then went on to brag that fans of Activision Blizzard properties have played and watched their games online for more than 13 billion hours over the past year. I have no idea how they actually arrived at that number but it sure sounds like a lot. Either way, it’s not surprising to hear that a Call of Duty movie is in development, although it might be a little early to be planning an entire Cinematic Universe. Hopefully Activision’s recent acquisition of King also means that a Candy Crush movie will be coming soon. Are you excited to see a Call of Duty movie? Do you think Activision Blizzard has what it takes to create successful video game movies where others have failed?