Former Mattel and Disney executive Tim Kilpin has been named by Activision Blizzard as President-CEO of its newly formed Consumer Products division, which will coordinate licensing across the company’s Activision, Blizzard Entertainment and King Digital Entertainment labels.

Kilpin, who left as Mattel’s president and chief commercial officer in late 2015, will head up all consumer product activities with a focus on licensing. He says he plans for the licensing personnel at each of the three brands to continue.

“The opportunity here is to accelerate how these brands across the company are growing by putting them together in a strategic pillar and really leveraging the power” of the games, such as “World of Warcraft,” “Call of Duty,” “Overwatch” and “Candy Crush,” Kilpin told us. “There is a lot of great work that is going on in consumer products in each of these divisions and we would like that to continue. What we would like to do now is elevate it and connect it all the franchises to work more closely with retailers and licensees.”

The structure of new division will be similar to other multi-property companies, with each label’s licensing staff reporting to Kilpin.

Activision also will consider developing some products internally. “Broadly speaking, it still follows a licensing model, but there may be opportunities where those kinds of opportunities present themselves,” he says. “We will look to do that strategically with the best possible partners in each of the key categories. But I don’t yet have a sense yet of whether that will make the most sense; we are going into this essentially with a licensing” strategy.

The consumer products group also comes as Activision-Blizzard works to bring the three brands together. For the first time, the three brands will share a booth at Licensing Expo in May; last year, each had its own. The new structure also follows the release of the first “World of Warcraft” movie last year and a deal last fall with CBS Television Distribution and Lionsgate for a forthcoming Candy Crush live-action game show. Lionsgate and King will handle production of the show, while CBS will distribute it in the U.S.

Activision will consider licensing agreements that encompass all three brands, but that will be done “on a case by case basis” and each of them will continue to be free to strike separate pacts, says Kilpin.

“The opportunity we have now is to send not only a message to retail partners, but to other licensees in key categories and say ‘you may have had a great relationship with us for ‘Call of Duty’ or ‘World of Warcraft,’ but take a look at the entire portfolio’ and have them understand the opportunity for growth with it and do more with that.”

Before his most recent Mattel stint, Kilpin was EVP of Franchise Management at Disney Consumer Products, where he oversaw global cross-category franchise plans for Disney Princess, Winnie the Pooh, Mickey Mouse and Pixar properties.