IRVINE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Aug. July 2022–
Blizzard Entertainment today completed the acquisition of Boston-based studio Proletariat to better serve players of the award-winning massively multiplayer online role-playing game, World of Warcraft®.
“Over the next two years, we plan to hire hundreds of the best developers to meet the needs of our World of Warcraft players. Proletariat’s extraordinary team will be a key component of our talent acquisition efforts,” said Activision Blizzard Chief Executive Officer Bobby Kotick.
“We put gamers first in everything we do and work hard to meet and exceed their expectations,” said Mike Ybarra, president of Blizzard Entertainment. “A crucial part of mentoring players is mentoring our teams – making sure we have the resources to produce experiences our communities will love, while allowing our teams room to be even more creative in their projects explore. Proletariat is a perfect fit to support Blizzard’s mission to bring quality content to our players more often.”
“We are incredibly excited to be part of Blizzard Entertainment,” said Seth Sivak, co-founder and CEO of Proletariat. “Our team has always strived to put players first, and working with the World of Warcraft team has taught us that in our commitment to innovation, quality, investing in our talent, authentic communication, and… Fully aligned representation, both in and out of the games we make. World of Warcraft is one of the most influential games of all time and we can’t wait to be part of that legacy and help build an even brighter future for Azeroth.”
“We are proud to partner with Proletariat as we continue to grow our development team and work towards welcoming more players to the Warcraft universe,” said John Hight, general manager of the Warcraft franchise. “We’ve listened to our community and based on their feedback we’ve made great changes to World of Warcraft – by bringing the talented Proletariat team on board, we can explore even more ways to surprise and delight players who call Azeroth their home.” to name.”
Proletariat was founded in 2012 by industry veterans from Insomniac, Harmonix and Turbine. The team has extensive experience developing MMORPGs and includes former lead designers from Asheron’s Call, Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons & Dragons Online. At Proletariat, the team has been running live games for almost a decade and most recently released the critically acclaimed cross-platform action, spellcasting, battle royale game Spellbreak. The studio has a strong presence in Boston.
Proletariat began working with the World of Warcraft development team in May and will be fully integrated into Blizzard Entertainment in the coming months. The addition of Proletariat is another exciting step in Blizzard Entertainment’s mission to creatively and culturally support their talented teams while building AAA gaming experiences across their iconic franchises.
About Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.
Best known for blockbuster hits including World of Warcraft®, Hearthstone®, Overwatch, the Warcraft®, StarCraft® and Diablo® franchises and the multi-franchise Heroes of the Storm®, Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. (https ://www.blizzard.com ), a division of Activision Blizzard (Nasdaq: ATVI), is a leading developer and publisher of entertainment software known for creating some of the industry’s most critically acclaimed games. Blizzard Entertainment’s track record includes twenty-three #1 games* and multiple Game of the Year awards. The company’s online gaming platform, Battle.net ®, serves tens of millions of active Blizzard players.
*Sales and/or downloads based on internal company records and reports from key distributors.
About Proletariat, Inc.
Founded in 2012 in Boston, MA by a group of games industry veterans from Harmonix, Turbine and Insomniac, Proletariat is an award-winning independent game developer with a mission to create games that transform the way communities play together. The launch team of five engineers and artists has grown to include over 90 developers from diverse backgrounds, tackling some of gaming’s most challenging problems.
The studio’s first major title, World Zombination, debuted as a coveted Editor’s Choice on the iOS App Store in early 2015. It attracted millions of players worldwide, was included in Apple’s “Best of 2015” list, and gained a reputation for bringing quality and depth to the mobile MMO landscape.
In 2021, Proletariat launched Spellbreak, the first game with full cross-platform compatibility for PC and all major consoles at release. It has been enjoyed by over 10 million players around the world.
For more information about Proletariat, visit http://www.proletariat.com.
The terms of this transaction were not disclosed.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: Information in this press release that relates to Blizzard Entertainment’s expectations, plans, intentions or strategies regarding the future, including statements regarding the implications of the acquisition of Proletariat, are forward-looking statements that are not facts and are not involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause Blizzard Entertainment’s actual future results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements contained in this press release include unanticipated product delays and other factors discussed in the risk factors sections of the most recent Activision Blizzard’s annual report on Form 10-K and any subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. The forward-looking statements in this press release are based on information available to Blizzard Entertainment and Activision Blizzard as of the date of this release, and neither Blizzard Entertainment nor Activision Blizzard undertakes any obligation to update such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements, which were believed to be true at the time they are made, may ultimately prove to be incorrect. These statements are not guarantees of future performance by Blizzard Entertainment or Activision Blizzard and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond their control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220701005267/en/
CONTACT: Andreas Meyer
Global PR Director, Warcraft
anmeyer@blizzard.com
KEYWORD: CALIFORNIA MASSACHUSETTS UNITED STATES NORTH AMERICA
INDUSTRY KEY WORD: ELECTRONIC GAMES ONLINE TECHNOLOGY ENTERTAINMENT SOFTWARE
SOURCE: Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.
Copyright Business Wire 2022.
PUB: 07/01/2022 08:55 / DISC: 07/01/2022 08:56
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220701005267/en
