Blizzard Entertainment Acquires Boston-Based Studio Proletariat to Expand Development Pipeline for World of Warcraft ®
July 01 2022 - 8:55AM
Business Wire
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
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.
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220701005267/en/
Andrew Meyer Global PR Director, Warcraft
anmeyer@blizzard.com
Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024
Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024