Activision buys ‘Candy Crush’ maker for $5.9bn in bid to reach mobile audience

By Trevor Mogg November 3, 2015

moschino candy crush — CreativeCommons

Activision Blizzard has announced its intention to acquire Candy Crush Saga creator King Digital Entertainment in a deal valued at a hefty $5.9 billion.

For Activision, the purchase represents a major step toward the world of mobile gaming, adding to its already strong presence on console and PC platforms thanks to the huge popularity of its Call of Duty and World of Warcraft franchises, among others.

King was targeted by the company for its vast network of gamers across mobile, social, and Web platforms, with its most recent data claiming 474 million monthly active users globally.

One-hit wonder?

The deal comes despite King’s difficulty in creating a follow-up game as successful as Candy Crush, which it released across several platforms in 2012. The game remains one of the top grossing apps on both iOS and Android devices, but its struggle to replicate Crush‘s success has taken its toll on the company’s profits.

Having carefully considered all the stats, Activision nevertheless sees huge potential in King’s massive global community of mobile gamers.

Commenting on the deal, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick said, “Mobile gaming is the largest and fastest-growing opportunity for interactive entertainment and we will have one of the world’s most successful mobile game companies and its talented teams providing great content to new customers, in new geographies throughout the world.”

King CEO Riccardo Zacconi said he was “excited” about the deal and that together the two companies “will have an amazing footprint, innovative technology, and leadership across platforms….to delight one of the largest networks of players in the world.”

King, which was founded in Sweden in 2003 before relocating to Dublin, currently has more than 1,600 employees at game studios and offices in around 12 countries.

The deal is expected to close by spring 2016, with Zacconi continuing to lead the company.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Contributing Editor

Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…

Gaming

How to unlock fast travel in Another Crab’s Treasure

Kril with a coconut shell

Another Crab's Treasure is a fantastical soulslike set deep under the ocean where danger lurks around every corner. And like other games in the genre, it's often brutally difficult to overcome the various challenges you'll encounter. As such, you may find yourself wanting to backtrack for level grinding, to uncover new secrets, or to buy additional items in the game's main hub. However, you may notice early in the game that you haven't yet unlocked the ability to fast travel between the multitude of Moon Snail Shells (aka "bonfires") you've found. Here's how and when you'll unlock fast travel.
How to unlock fast travel
In the opening hours of the game, you may notice that you can access your skill tree, which will show a skill called Shelleportation. But you may be discouraged to see that you aren't able to apply any points to it yet. That's because the game doesn't open up this feature until you've advanced a few hours into the story.

To unlock fast travel, you'll need to work your way through the first few main areas of the game until you reach a boss called the Polluted Platoon Pathfinder. After beating this baddie, you'll soon find yourself teleporting to the Moon Snail's Domain. Here, you'll learn about the power of Umami, as well as unlock access to your skill tree.

Gaming

Best gaming chair deals: Save on Corsair, Razer, and more

Razer - Iskur Gaming Chair.

Sitting down to play video games for hours and hours can be a lot of fun, but it can also be pretty bad for your health. Beyond just the lack of circulation, most modern chairs are not really made to have us sit in them for long periods, and so they don't offer things like lumbar support or breath to help keep us cool. Luckily, gaming chairs have come to the rescue, and if you're looking to at least help keep your body safe and healthy, going for a gaming chair can make a big difference. That said, gaming chairs can be quite expensive, which is why we've gone out and found some of our favorite gaming chair deals for you to pick from.
Homall Massage Gaming Chair -- $85, was $170

The Homall Massage Gaming Chair is affordable, but it will get the job done of keeping you comfortable while playing video games with its ergonomic design and high-quality PU leather materials. It's got head and waist pillows with a massage function that sets it apart from other cheap gaming chairs. The backrest can recline between 90 degrees and 180 degrees so you can find the perfect angle, and it also has a retractable footrest for an extra sitting position.

Gaming

All Fallout games in order, chronologically and by release date

A woman and a dog leaving a vault in Fallout 4.

War never changes. The retrofuturistic apocalypse world of Fallout has graced fans with pretty regular releases since 1997, letting us explore the North American wasteland in the aftermath of a nuclear war in a variety of regions.

It can be a little hard to keep track of the series' timeline if you aren't listening to every holotape in every game and keeping your own log of events. On top of the best Fallout games, we now have to consider where the new Fallout TV show fits in the timeline. We aren't going to get into every timeline detail here (the series' lore is surprisingly deep and detailed) but we will let you know exactly what year every mainline titles takes place in and how you can play them in order.
Fallout games by release date