Robert Kirkman's Skybound to Create 'Summoners War' Universe
'The Walking Dead' creator's company will help bring the billion-dollar game franchise to small screens, the printed page and beyond.
The mobile RPG Summoners War is expanding its universe.
South Korean game developers Com2us is partnering with Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman's Skybound Entertainment, to expand Summoners War into an entertainment franchise across various mediums, including comics, animated series and more. The new partnership was announced moments before the final matches at the Summoners War World Arena Championship on Saturday at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, a free event that showcases 16 of the best players from around the world.
“We couldn’t be more excited to work closely with Skybound to expand the Summoners War franchise into new mediums. Our goal at Com2us has always been to allow our amazing community to interact with the Summoners War IP in engaging ways, and through this partnership we can’t wait for it to expand into comics, animation and more. In addition, Skybound's enthusiasm for our partnership has reaffirmed our decision to continue expanding into additional brand platforms in the future," Casey Lee, CEO of Com2us USA told Heat Vision.
Development of the new universe outside of the gaming space will be overseen by Kirkman, Skybound co-founder and CEO David Alpert, and Star Wars: The Clone Wars/The Angry Birds Movie producer (and CEO of Skybound North) Catherine Winder.
“Building universes and a supporting narrative in multiple platforms is the foundation upon which Skybound was built. The opportunity to partner with Com2us on Summoners War, a rich and magical fantasy story, was an excellent creative fit for us. We couldn’t be more excited to bring this property to life by expanding the franchise’s reach in North America, and beyond, in mediums including comics, animation and more," Winder told Heat Vision.
Skybound Entertainment, founded by Kirman and Alpert in 2010, is behind AMC's hit The Walking Dead television show as well as the prequel Fear The Walking Dead and Cinemax's Outcast, all based on Kirkman's comics. The company made a move into the digital content space this year with the narrative VR series, Gone, for Samsung’s Milk VR platform. The company will additionally produce the VR horror series Lies Within, which is the first project out of Skybound’s partnership with interactive theatrical company Delusion, and a film adaptation of Kirkman’s comic series Invincible, with Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg attached to direct, write, and produce the movie for Universal.
“The Summoners War team has created an incredibly compelling and fantastical world ripe with engaging characters and storytelling opportunities. We are excited and proud to partner with them to expand this rich universe, loved by so many from around the world for audiences across all cultures and ages, into multiple forms of content filled with the adventure and wonder of the game,” Kirkman, Winder and Alpert said in a joint statement.
Summoners War is a mobile turn-based strategy game gives players control of a summoner who can call forth over 1,000 different monsters to do battle. The game first launched in June 2014 and has been downloaded more than 80 million times worldwide. In the three and a half years since the game was released it has generated over one billion dollars in revenue.
“To say we are honored to work with such a prolific and acclaimed creator as Robert, Catherine and the entire Skybound team, is an understatement,” said Casey Lee, CEO of Com2us USA, Inc. “Robert has proven that he is a master of blending human drama and fantasy, while Catherine has been a veteran adaptor of major franchises into other mediums. There is no doubt in our minds that we are working with the best creators possible for building the Summoners War universe."
Specific details about the upcoming projects have not been revealed.
