Activision Blizzard, whose titles include the Call of Duty Series, Destiny, and World of Warcraft, has agreed to acquire King Digital Entertainment for $5.9 billion.
King Digital is best known as the makers of the Candy Crush games.
Activision says that this merger creates “one of the largest entertainment networks with over half a billion monthly active users in 196 countries” and a combined portfolio to of 10 the “world’s most iconic interactive entertainment franchises.”
“We have long-admired King for consistently creating incredibly fun, deeply engaging free-to-play games that capture the imaginations of players across ages and demographics,” said Bobby Kotick, Chief Executive Officer of Activision Blizzard. “Activision Blizzard will provide King with experience, support and investment to continue to build on their tremendous legacy and reach new potential. We share an unwavering commitment to attracting and developing the best talent in the business, and we are excited about what we will be able to accomplish together.”
“We are excited to be entering into this Acquisition with Activision Blizzard. Since 2003, we have built one of the largest player networks on mobile and Facebook, with 474 million monthly active users in the third quarter 2015, and our talented team has created some of the most successful mobile game franchises. We believe that the Acquisition will position us very well for the next phase of our company’s evolution and will bring clear benefits to our players and employees. We will combine our expertise in mobile and free-to-play with Activision Blizzard’s world-class brands and proven track record of building and sustaining the most successful franchises, to bring the best games in the world to millions of players worldwide. We are very much looking forward to working with Activision Blizzard. We have two teams that, together, will have an amazing footprint, innovative technology, and leadership across platforms, and unique, established IPs to delight one of the largest networks of players in the world,” said Riccardo Zacconi, Chief Executive Officer of King.
According to the company, spending on Candy Crush fell 13 percent year-over-year. King has been unable to create a hit as huge as Candy Crush.
Mark Zuckerberg recently said that Facebook was working on a fix to the abundance of Candy Crush invites.
Image via Candy Crush