Blizzard Entertainment Acquires Boston-Based Studio Proletariat to Expand Development Pipeline for World of Warcraft ®
Proletariat will join forces with Blizzard Entertainment as they work together to further serve the player community
This acquisition comes as Blizzard Entertainment expands development resources, invests in the growth of key franchises
IRVINE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Blizzard Entertainment today closed the acquisition of Boston-based studio Proletariat to better serve players in the award-winning massive multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft®.
“Over the next two years we plan to hire hundreds of the best developers to serve the needs of our World of Warcraft players. The extraordinary team at Proletariat will be a key component of our talent acquisition efforts,” said Bobby Kotick, Chief Executive Officer of Activision Blizzard.
“We are putting players at the forefront of everything we do, and we are working hard to both meet and exceed their expectations,” said Mike Ybarra, president of Blizzard Entertainment. “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. Proletariat is a perfect fit for supporting Blizzard’s mission in bringing high-quality content to our players more often.”
“We are incredibly excited to be joining Blizzard Entertainment,” said Proletariat co-founder and CEO, Seth Sivak. “Our team has always strived to put players first, and in working with the World of Warcraft team, we have learned that we are completely aligned in our commitments to innovation, quality, investing in our talent, authentic communication, and representation—both in and out of the games we make. World of Warcraft is one of the most influential games ever made and we can’t wait to be a part of that legacy and to help build an even brighter future for Azeroth.”
“We are proud to be working with Proletariat as we further expand our development team and build towards welcoming more players into the Warcraft universe,” said John Hight, general manager of the Warcraft franchise. “We’ve been listening to our community and making great changes to World of Warcraft based on their feedback—bringing the talented Proletariat team into the fold allows us to explore even more ways we can surprise and delight players who call Azeroth home.”
Proletariat was founded in 2012 by industry veterans from Insomniac, Harmonix, and Turbine. The team has deep experience building MMORPGs and includes, among others, former lead designers of Asheron’s Call, Lord of the Rings Online, and Dungeons & Dragons Online. At Proletariat, the team has operated live games for nearly a decade, having 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 over the coming months. The addition of Proletariat is another exciting step in Blizzard Entertainment’s mission to support their talented teams creatively and culturally 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 multifranchise Heroes of the Storm®, Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. (https://www.blizzard.com), a division of Activision Blizzard (Nasdaq: ATVI), is a premier developer and publisher of entertainment software renowned 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 game-industry veterans from Harmonix, Turbine, and Insomniac, Proletariat is an award-winning independent game developer with the mission to create games that change the way communities play together. The starting team of five engineers and artists has grown to 90+ developers from diverse backgrounds and tackled some of gaming’s most challenging problems.
The studio’s first major title, World Zombination, debuted in early 2015 as a coveted “Editor’s Choice” on the iOS App Store. Attracting millions of players worldwide, it went on to be named to Apple’s “Best of 2015” list and developed a reputation for bringing quality and depth to the mobile MMO landscape.
In 2021, Proletariat launched Spellbreak, the first game to have full cross-platform compatibility across PC and all major consoles at release. It went on to be enjoyed by over 10 million players across the world.
For more information on Proletariat, please visit http://www.proletariat.com.
Terms of this transaction were not disclosed.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements: Information in this press release that involves Blizzard Entertainment’s expectations, plans, intentions or strategies regarding the future, including statements about the impact of the Proletariat acquisition, are forward-looking statements that are not facts and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause Blizzard Entertainment’s actual future results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements set forth in this release include unanticipated product delays and other factors identified in the risk factors sections of Activision Blizzard’s most recent annual report on Form 10-K and any subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. The forward-looking statements in this 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 assumes any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements believed to be true when made may ultimately prove to be incorrect. These statements are not guarantees of the future performance of Blizzard Entertainment or Activision Blizzard and are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors, some of which are beyond its control and may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations.
Contacts
Andrew Meyer
Global PR Director, Warcraft
anmeyer@blizzard.com