Blizzard acquires Spellbreak developer as it closes doors on the battle royale

(Image credit: Proletariat)

Blizzard has scooped up developer Proletariat for an unknown amount.

The news comes mere hours after the Boston-based developer announced it would be calling time on battlemage royale Spellbreak, which is set to shut down sometime in early 2023. Proletariat has already been working with Blizzard since May, with the deal seeing the 100-person team officially integrated. According to VentureBeat, the team will be moving over to work on World of Warcraft along with its upcoming Dragonflight expansion.

It's the second developer in recent memory to be folded into Activision Blizzard's wider team. January 2021 saw Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 developer Vicarious Visions pivot to supporting Blizzard games before merging completely with the studio in October 2021. Toys For Bob is a similar case: While it's still retained its name, the studio was assigned to act as a support developer to Call of Duty: Warzone while continuing support on Crash Bandicoot 4 back in May 2021.

We'll have more details as they emerge.

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Mollie spent her early childhood deeply invested in games like Killer Instinct, Toontown and Audition Online, which continue to form the pillars of her personality today. She joined PC Gamer in 2020 as a news writer and now lends her expertise to write a wealth of features, guides and reviews with a dash of chaos. She can often be found causing mischief in Final Fantasy 14, using those experiences to write neat things about her favourite MMO. When she's not staring at her bunny girl she can be found sweating out rhythm games, pretending to be good at fighting games or spending far too much money at her local arcade.