Blizzard To Acquire Spellbreak Creator Proletariat

Blizzard Entertainment is planning to acquire the Boston-based studio Proletariat, the developer behind the free-to-play fantasy battle royale Spellbreak. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

According to GamesBeat, after the acquisition, the studio's team of 100 people will be integrated into Blizzard to increase the development staff on World of Warcraft including the upcoming Dragonflight expansion. The two companies are said to have been working with each other since May.

This is the second time in two years when Blizzard absorbes a studio to expand the team to work on the company's key franchises. Last year, Blizzard acquired Guitar Hero and Tony Hawk developer Vicarious Visions to support Diablo games.

President of Blizzard Entertainment Mike Ybarra confirmed Blizzard’s acquisition of Proletariat to GamesBeat in a statement. "A critical part of taking care of players is taking care of our teams – making sure we have the resources to produce experiences our communities will love while giving our teams space to explore even more creative opportunities within their projects," he said. "Proletariat is a perfect fit for supporting Blizzard’s mission in bringing high-quality content to our players more often.

Prior to the news of the deal, Proletariat also announced that its magic-based battle royale Spellbreak will be shut down in early 2023. The developer noted that since 2018, millions of people have played the game. However, its average player count reached just 166 on Steam over the last month so it is likely that the support costs are no longer justified. Proletariat thanked the players for their support and stated that it will use the knowledge gained during the development of the game in their other projects.

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