Blizzard Acquires Spellbreak Developer Proletariat for World of Warcraft Team

[wushootaki]

Putting aside Proletariat's prior reputation and achievements, this sort of move has been done before by Blizz... and the result was WoD. If we assume all these people are going to be a boon to Blizz, the immediate impact of this acquisition is still going to be negative. This is because the new people have to get acclimated to WoW and how Blizz operates, and the experienced devs and personnel will have to sacrifice their own time to do this. I've seen people heralding that this will ensure Dragonflight will be amazing, but the reality is likely the opposite. Best case scenario the status quo with the expansion doesn't change as the new devs are going to the second team.

This move is more of a long-term effort that may or may not pay off. The ultimate problem is that the root of many issues with the game aren't even acknowledged by the current devs, so don't expect newbies to be the ones to make them turn a new leaf. While Blizz could pump out more content faster for WoW, the game philosophy itself needs to change. If you want sort of analogy, imagine a boat that's taking on water: adding more people to grab buckets to scoop out the water will certainly help to some degree, but if your captain doesn't order the cause of the leaks to be fixed you're just maintaining a broken boat and wasting manpower in the long term.

WoD suffered from massive layoffs during the alpha and complete zone rewrites as far as Beta. Nothing to do with acquiring a new studio.

Also, WoD had probably one of the strongest box games to ever release for an expansion, and fell apart with the lack of follow-up content post-launch (due to said reasons above).

[Flurryfang]

Looking at what proletariat made, im not sure this is a good thing for WoW as a game.

Because either they were purchased to work on the game as developers, which means more PVP focused, which is bad for WoW in generel, or they are being purchased to be designers, which looking at the style of spellbreak, does not bode well for WoW either.

All in all, this just seems like another odd attempt for Blizzard to patch up their game in all the wrong ways. More people rarely equals better game, and who knows, maybe WoW won't survive long enough for the devs of Proletariat to see their work be launched

[crusadernero]

If you ask someone who knows the game, they will tell you is "good", "charming" and "one of a kind".
Is a Battleroyal based on magic.

To the usual MMO-C user...you might call it "dead game"...because is kinda dead (i hear).

But was innovative for its time, IMO

Well they are literally shutting the game down early 2023. So yeah, its dead.


How will this affect wow? No idea. Maybe pushing for cross platform?

[Danuel]

It's time for WoW to die!

[Raven]

Looking at what proletariat made, im not sure this is a good thing for WoW as a game.

Because either they were purchased to work on the game as developers, which means more PVP focused, which is bad for WoW in generel, or they are being purchased to be designers, which looking at the style of spellbreak, does not bode well for WoW either.

All in all, this just seems like another odd attempt for Blizzard to patch up their game in all the wrong ways. More people rarely equals better game, and who knows, maybe WoW won't survive long enough for the devs of Proletariat to see their work be launched

Yeah the answer is easy, they are there to help the devs already working in the game, they are not there to make decisions for the game.

[r0LanD]

Do they even have a successful game to their name?

sucessfull game is a result of execution on all levels of production, but programmers can code anything they are said to, and if they are good at it, then we'll see improvements in blizzard's content delivery in a year or two

[Flurryfang]

Yeah the answer is easy, they are there to help the devs already working in the game, they are not there to make decisions for the game.

So nothing will really change and its just more manpower to a team with a bad design philosophy.

[MoanaLisa]

So nothing will really change and its just more manpower to a team with a bad design philosophy.

That's the most likely result although bringing in a team with fresh perspectives can be a good thing that you won't get with just bringing in a single new hire.

Corporate cultures (apart from bad and illegal behavior) can also differ significantly. That's analogous to some of the stories that have been around for years about how guild mergers go bad. People get used to a certain way of doing things, certain habits, and real change gets to be real hard.

[Asrialol]

Looking at what proletariat made, im not sure this is a good thing for WoW as a game.

Because either they were purchased to work on the game as developers, which means more PVP focused, which is bad for WoW in generel, or they are being purchased to be designers, which looking at the style of spellbreak, does not bode well for WoW either.

All in all, this just seems like another odd attempt for Blizzard to patch up their game in all the wrong ways. More people rarely equals better game, and who knows, maybe WoW won't survive long enough for the devs of Proletariat to see their work be launched

You seem to think that the game Spellbreak will somehow influence how these new devs work on WoW. You realize that game developers usually work on several different games in their career? They dont put old games into new ones or use them to heavily influence an existing, non-genre related game.

- - - Updated - - -

None of their games are single player stories. They were all live service shit. Even their own website shows them putting out a patch last year then dead silence until the announcement yesterday they were shutting it down and being bought.
https://www.proletariat.com/about-us

They claim to be about players first but keep making live service stuff that they abandon. Not sure that's the type of people I want working on WoW.

WoW is a live service shit.

[Flurryfang]

You seem to think that the game Spellbreak will somehow influence how these new devs work on WoW. You realize that game developers usually work on several different games in their career? They dont put old games into new ones or use them to heavily influence an existing, non-genre related game.

- - - Updated - - -



WoW is a live service shit.

I don't think the game Spellbreak will influence WoW, but its designers and their ideas/background will follow.

Acquiring Proletariat does not mean just getting its developers, it getting its teams and structure. The idea that they are getting just a bunch of new mindless devs, that codes what they are told, is wrong. They are getting in team with a method and an already preset attitude to gaming.

Atleast, there is a good chance of that. Some devs can go from 1 genre of games to a different really easily, but most like making what they have made before, as that is where they have experience. Lets just say, that i would be surprised if Proletariat got acquired to do quest design.

[Nzx]

and who knows, maybe WoW won't survive long enough for the devs of Proletariat to see their work be launched

Yeah man, you're right. It'll die any day now. Just keep complaining about it on the internet and talking about how bad it is and it'll die in no time. Just like Everquest.

[korijenkins]

What better way to bolster your MMO team than by acquiring the developers of a failed Fortnite clone?

[HansOlo]

I don't think the game Spellbreak will influence WoW, but its designers and their ideas/background will follow.

Acquiring Proletariat does not mean just getting its developers, it getting its teams and structure. The idea that they are getting just a bunch of new mindless devs, that codes what they are told, is wrong. They are getting in team with a method and an already preset attitude to gaming.

Atleast, there is a good chance of that. Some devs can go from 1 genre of games to a different really easily, but most like making what they have made before, as that is where they have experience. Lets just say, that i would be surprised if Proletariat got acquired to do quest design.

You are basicly saying, if a baker starts making a pizza - he won't be able control himself and make a crossaint pizza(due to unreliable human nature).

Thank you for indepth analysis. You sound like some youtube algorithm(maybe under the influenze of Bellular or whatever) - so I take it for what it is.

[Super Kami Dende]

I'm sure they really cared about the workplace environment and not the Money that came with the Deal.

[HansOlo]

Yeah man, you're right. It'll die any day now. Just keep complaining about it on the internet and talking about how bad it is and it'll die in no time. Just like Everquest.

LOL! Made my day

[Abux]

Looking at what proletariat made, im not sure this is a good thing for WoW as a game.

Because either they were purchased to work on the game as developers, which means more PVP focused, which is bad for WoW in generel, or they are being purchased to be designers, which looking at the style of spellbreak, does not bode well for WoW either.

All in all, this just seems like another odd attempt for Blizzard to patch up their game in all the wrong ways. More people rarely equals better game, and who knows, maybe WoW won't survive long enough for the devs of Proletariat to see their work be launched

Yeah cause people can't absorbs another business culture and development process at all ?! This acquisition is the first ever made by a game company right?!

You don't have any base for what you are saying and just provide negativity and complain because it's meta. Before spewing trash talk wait for at least till the end of beta and then make a statement based on facts; don't be like everyone else!

[HansOlo]

I don't think the game Spellbreak will influence WoW, but its designers and their ideas/background will follow.

Acquiring Proletariat does not mean just getting its developers, it getting its teams and structure. The idea that they are getting just a bunch of new mindless devs, that codes what they are told, is wrong. They are getting in team with a method and an already preset attitude to gaming.

Atleast, there is a good chance of that. Some devs can go from 1 genre of games to a different really easily, but most like making what they have made before, as that is where they have experience. Lets just say, that i would be surprised if Proletariat got acquired to do quest design.

I swear if not people only worked at McD(or actually had the bare minimum buisness knowledge) - they had would known what acquiring a company meant.

It means following:

Blizzard is the new boss. Just like Bobby aint here anymore, the boss of Spellbreak won't have a say.

The devs won't and can't go rogue and start turning WoW to some Fornite clone.

They are obviously here, to contribute with more hands, so the projects can finish up faster(hint: Dragonflight release - you probably also complained about this).

Stop yourself.

[Nerovar]

When they brought over some of the Diablo 3 devs to work on WoW we got Legion/World of Diablocraft. I'm not familiar with the games "Proletariat" made but I wouldn't be surprised if they left a mark on WoW for better or for worse.

[Enter Name Here]

i hope they won't be involved in the current development of dragonflight.
the time until release already seems very short compared to previous expansions. i'm afraid that introducing a new team of about 100 persons into that process will take its toll on the time spent on developing the actual game...

[Flurryfang]

I swear if not people only worked at McD(or actually had the bare minimum buisness knowledge) - they had would known what acquiring a company meant.

It means following:

Blizzard is the new boss. Just like Bobby aint here anymore, the boss of Spellbreak won't have a say.

The devs won't and can't go rogue and start turning WoW to some Fornite clone.

They are obviously here, to contribute with more hands, so the projects can finish up faster(hint: Dragonflight release - you probably also complained about this).

Stop yourself.

Damm, arent you an aggresive lad.

You are really just agreeing with me tbh xD Like i was not talking about them coming in to change the game, more that they come with a work method, that makes putting them directly into the development machine hard, which is why its hard to believe they are gonna go work on Dragonflight with only half a year to go, but they are gonna work on the bread and butter of the game.

So please read posts before commenting and stop yourself from writing foolish things.

- - - Updated - - -

Yeah cause people can't absorbs another business culture and development process at all ?! This acquisition is the first ever made by a game company right?!

You don't have any base for what you are saying and just provide negativity and complain because it's meta. Before spewing trash talk wait for at least till the end of beta and then make a statement based on facts; don't be like everyone else!

Im not saying it can't be done, its done all the time, but within 6 months? Doubtful. And thats coming from having worked both in tech firm, that got absorbed and currently working in big tech seeing new teams come in. Its often a setup for disappoint if a manager expects a new crew to jump directly into current production within 3 months.

So it does come from a base. Besides, its not negativity, its actually a constructive feedback on what doesen't work and what does when it comes to improving a product. Such a thing can be done at any point, not just when beta is over or when a product launches. If a rocket looks badly made, it does not help to say "Lets hold back on critique until we fire it.

You are welcome to come with your own constructive rebuff if you want to

- - - Updated - - -

You are basicly saying, if a baker starts making a pizza - he won't be able control himself and make a crossaint pizza(due to unreliable human nature).

Thank you for indepth analysis. You sound like some youtube algorithm(maybe under the influenze of Bellular or whatever) - so I take it for what it is.

.... I think you are heavily oversimplifying the job of working on software, setting it equal to working with dough.

While you are working with the framework(coding and dough), the context, scale and enviroment changes. That does have an impact and does take time to get used to. Just because the baker knows how to work with dough, does not mean that it won't take him time to get used to making quality pizza.