A day after Spellbreak’s closure was confirmed, new reports suggest Blizzard Entertainment intends to close Proletariat, Inc.
Updated on 6/29. It’s been a 24-hour rollercoaster ride for development studio Proletariat, Inc., based in Boston, Massachusetts. After four years, the studios’ magic-based battle royale title Spellbreak is being retired. The studio gave no reason why its online play should be shutting down in early 2023, although many have speculated that keeping the servers running for a small number of players is no longer cost-effective.
As disappointing as the news was for fans, many began to wonder what was next for the studio. Though players have the rest of the year to delve into magical combat, they probably didn’t expect to get an answer less than 24 hours later on what’s next for Proletariat. As it turns out, the studio is joining one of the biggest studios in the world thanks to a surprise announcement made earlier today.
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While not yet officially announced by Blizzard or Proletariat, GamesBeat writer Dean Takahashi reveals that the two studios appear to be joining forces. According to the news, Blizzard Entertainment intends to acquire Proletariat for an undisclosed amount of money. The deal itself will likely be the largest acquisition Blizzard has made in at least 10 years, with the last outside studio to be added being Swinging Ape in 2005. Vicarious VIsions, an in-house Activision studio, was brought into Blizzard to help work on the Diablo franchise a few years ago, although that came well after Activision and Blizzard merged.
As the news broke earlier, Blizzard President Mike Ybarra issued a statement regarding the news:
We put players at the center of everything we do and work hard to meet and exceed their expectations. A crucial part of mentoring players is mentoring our teams – making sure we have the resources to produce experiences our communities will love, while giving our teams room to explore even more creative possibilities in their projects . Proletariat will be a perfect fit to support Blizzard’s mission to bring quality content to our players more often.
The move may not come as too much of a surprise to some fans, given that Proletariat has been helping Blizzard since May. Now that Proletariat appears to be officially joining Blizzard, the 100-strong team is being added to the World of Warcraft side of things. With the expanded staff, Blizzard hopes that quality and timing goals for upcoming expansions will be easier to meet, and the time between content updates will be reduced to keep players engaged.
The Proletariat team will likely be busy as World of Warcraft’s ninth expansion is due out later this year. Announced earlier this year, Dragonflight not only gives players new story content to play through, a new continent to explore, and rideable dragons, but also adds a brand new playable race and class. As expected, the Dractyr is a dragon-based humanoid that can switch between a human and draconic form in combat. Additionally, the Evoker class appears to be a hybrid class, capable of using destructive dragon magic as well as support spells to aid allies.
Source: GamesBeat
