Proletariat Inc., the studio behind Spellbreak, has just been acquired by Blizzard, per VentureBeat. The developer announced the news in a blog post, denoting the rather sad fate of its battle royale spell-based experience. Spellbreak is shutting down at the start of 2023, with any future developments on the game ceasing in Proletariat's move to the World of Warcraft section under Blizzard.
The deal will see the nearly 100-strong staff of Proletariat moved to World of Warcraft, working specifically on the MMORPG's forthcoming DLC, Dragonflight, which is set to debut sometime in the latter half of 2022. It is marked as the largest Blizzard acquisition the publisher has ever made, yet official terms and pricing were not made public. Blizzard is aiming to hit back at the naysayers, targeting exponential growth for its MMORPG as many various players express a lack of interest in WoW's current and future gameplay updates.
"We are putting players at the forefront of everything we do, and we are working hard to both meet and exceed their expectations. A big part of caring for our teams is making sure we have the resources to produce the experiences our communities will love while giving our teams space to explore even more creative opportunities within their projects," explained president of Blizzard, Mike Ybarra, in a statement. "Proletariat is a perfect fit for supporting Blizzard's mission in bringing high-quality content to our players more often."
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The focus as of right now, according to Proletariat CEO, Seth Sivak, is to administer as much care and support to the WoW team at Blizzard as is possible before any new game ideas start to kick into motion. Blizzard stands as the perfect monument for the Proletariat team to learn and grow under new senior leadership available at the larger shop, but it does come with some rather stringent downsides.
For starters, Activision Blizzard has long been embroiled in several various controversies, including two sexual harassment lawsuits, one of which was filed earlier this year, and allegations of sour workplace conditions, which were headed by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing. The publisher's recent release of Diablo Immortal has also come under fire for its severe pay-to-win mechanics, with YouTube channel Bellular News citing a whopping $110,000 to gear up player characters in the game fully.
World of Warcraft itself has likewise been challenged by many players on its recent performance, brought to light by none other than WoW superfan Asmongold, who officially quit the game several months ago due to a string of rather poor updates. Despite the lackluster game updates and multitude of controversies, Activision Blizzard was acquired by Microsoft for $68.5 billion earlier this year. The deal is still pending regulatory approval but is "moving fast," according to Microsoft's president Brad Smith.
Founded in 2012, Proletariat games include World Zombination, which debuted on mobile platforms in 2015, Streamline and StreamLegends, two Twitch-integrated experiences to allow streamers better interactive incentives for their viewers and Spellbreak in 2020. While it may be a rather tricky time for the studio to begin co-mingling, production on Dragonflight will surely need it if it intends to sway the disheartened WoW fanbase.
