SEATTLE -- Dec. 19, 2002 --WizKids Games' collectable miniatures games, including Mage Knight(TM), HeroClix(TM) and MechWarrior®: Dark Age, are experiencing a tremendous holiday season, with retail sales nearly double that of last year, according to Jordan Weisman, founder and CEO of WizKids. Over one hundred million WizKids miniature figures have been sold worldwide.
"While many major retailers and consumer product companies are reporting soft holiday sales, WizKids is experiencing just the opposite," said WizKids Executive Vice President Martin Stever. "Over the past year, our retail sales have doubled, and holiday sales are continuing that upward trend. In fact, many of our retailers report that WizKids games are flying off the shelves, most notably HeroClix, our licensed game line featuring popular comic-book superheroes and villains."
"WizKids games are some of the easiest products to sell. The entire line... has so much going for it," said retailer Jason Draper of Hobbies of Reno in Reno, Nev. Retailer Russ Sagona of Crypton Komics in Charleroi, Pa., agreed, saying, "WizKids was a godsend for me this Christmas... it has blown away all other games in my shop."
WizKids' holiday sales growth was predicted at the beginning of the season by PlayDate, a privately owned, independent marketing services company that tracks the toy and game software/hardware industries in the United States. The PlayDate Best-Seller List named HeroClix, Mage Knight and MechWarrior: Dark Age among the top ten collectibles expected to be best-sellers by leading retailers nationwide. WizKids Games was the only company placing more than one game in the top ten collectibles category.
Founded by 20-year game industry veteran Jordan Weisman, WizKids is an award-winning Seattle-based game developer and publisher. WizKids is dedicated to creating a new genre of games that is both more accessible and more sophisticated than traditional adventure games. WizKids' best-selling Mage Knight game has been translated into seven languages and has sold tens of millions of figures worldwide. WizKids also produces the comic book-based HeroClix line of collectable miniatures games, as well as the sci-fi MechWarrior: Dark Age collectable miniatures game. For more information, visit the company's website at www.wizkidsgames.com.
(C)2002 WizKids, LLC. All rights reserved. Mage Knight, MechWarrior, HeroClix and WizKids are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of WizKids, LLC in the United States and/or other countries.
