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Atari Announces Duel Masters: Sempai Legends; With More Than 120 Million Booster Packs Sold in Japan, Duel Masters Prepares for U.S. Invasion |
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NewsreleaseDate:
2004-04-22
Atari Announces Duel Masters: Sempai Legends; With More Than 120 Million Booster Packs Sold in Japan, Duel Masters Prepares for U.S. Invasion
Atari, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATAR) and Wizards of the Coast, a subsidiary of Hasbro Inc., today announced that Duel Masters(TM) -- the number one toy in Japan according to Weekly Toy News -- will be released for Nintendo's Game Boy® Advance in June 2004. Already an incredibly successful trading card game, television series and comic book in Japan, Atari's Duel Masters(TM): Sempai Legends, which was developed under license from Hasbro, will launch hot on the heels of the newest round of the Duel Masters trading card game from Wizards of the Coast. With more than 120 million booster packs sold in Japan, Duel Masters is preparing to invade the U.S.
"Duel Masters: Sempai Legends incorporates an engaging combination of strategy, humor and mystery that we believe will translate into an exciting interactive entertainment offering," said Nancy MacIntyre, vice president of Marketing and Public Relations, Atari's Beverly studio. "We are pleased to work with Wizards of the Coast to bring this entertainment phenomenon from Japan to the U.S. and the Game Boy Advance."
"Atari has successfully demonstrated its expertise in bringing anime properties and trading card franchises to the interactive entertainment sector, and we are excited to be working with them on Duel Masters," said James Szubski, Duel Masters brand manager, Wizards of the Coast. "Duel Masters has already demonstrated its ability to span a variety of entertainment genres, and Atari's Game Boy Advance offering combined with our trading card game delivers the perfect vehicle with which to introduce this universe to North America."
Duel Masters' Accomplishments in Japan
The Trading Card Game launched in Japan in May of 2002
More than 4,000,000 Duel Masters decks sold
More than 120,000,000 Duel Masters booster packs sold
The Trading Card Game has been the #1 toy in Japan for the last 11 consecutive months
There are more than 600 Duel Masters play events per month
26 episodes of the Duel Masters TV show have been produced; 26 additional episodes are currently in production
U.S. Launch Highlights
Times Square Launch Event on March 5, 2004
U.S. Launch supported by 15-city Wizards of the Coast Mall Tour
Animated Duel Masters cartoon on Cartoon Network
Duel Masters Organized Leagues and Tournaments
Trading Card, Video Game and Anime Enthusiast convention presence throughout 2004 and beyond
About Duel Masters: Sempai Legends for Game Boy Advance
Duel Masters: Sempai Legends offers a story-driven experience, in which the lead character inherits a valuable Duel Masters card from his grandfather, but before he can add it to his deck, it is stolen by a mysterious man. As a result, the lead character must travel through a dangerous world inhabited by rival duelists in the hopes of regaining his stolen property. Along the way, he enters tournaments and gains the experience to someday become a Kaijudo Master.
For more information, please visit www.atari.com.
Hasbro, Inc.
Hasbro (NYSE:HAS) is a worldwide leader in children's and family leisure time entertainment products and services, including the design, manufacture and marketing of games and toys ranging from traditional to high-tech. Both internationally and in the U.S., its PLAYSKOOL, TONKA, MILTON BRADLEY, PARKER BROTHERS, TIGER and WIZARDS OF THE COAST brands and products provide the highest quality and most recognizable play experiences in the world.
Wizards of the Coast
Wizards of the Coast, Inc., a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE:HAS), is a worldwide leader in the trading card game and tabletop roleplaying game categories, and a leading developer and publisher of game-based entertainment products. The company holds an exclusive patent on trading card games (TCGs) and their method of play and produces the premier trading card game, Magic: The Gathering®, among many other trading card games and family card and board games. Wizards is also a leading publisher of role playing games, such as Dungeons & Dragons®, and publisher of fantasy series fiction with numerous New York Times best-sellers. For more information, visit the Wizards of the Coast website at wizards.com.
About Atari
New York-based Atari, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATAR) develops interactive games for all platforms and is one of the largest third-party publishers of interactive entertainment software in the U.S. The Company's 1,000+ titles include hard-core, genre-defining games such as Driver(TM), Enter the Matrix(TM), Neverwinter Nights(TM), Stuntman(TM), Test Drive®, Unreal® Tournament 2004, and Unreal® Championship; and mass-market and children's games such as Backyard Sports(TM), Nickelodeon's Blue's Clues(TM) and Dora the Explorer(TM), Civilization®, Dragon Ball Z® and RollerCoaster Tycoon®. Atari, Inc. is a majority-owned subsidiary of France-based Infogrames Entertainment SA (Euronext 5257), the largest interactive games publisher in Europe. For more information, visit www.atari.com.
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