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Tag: Candy Crush

  • Microsoft Buying Activision Blizzard, CEO Kotick Likely Leaving Soon After

    Microsoft Buying Activision Blizzard, CEO Kotick Likely Leaving Soon After

    Microsoft announced it is buying Activision Blizzard in a deal worth a whopping $68.7 billion.

    Activision Blizzard is responsible for some of the biggest, most successful game franchises in history, including Warcraft, Overwatch, Starcraft, Diablo, Call of Duty, and Candy Crush. Microsoft sees the acquisition as a way for it to continue to cement its position in developing the metaverse, where in-person and virtual reality merge.

    “Gaming is the most dynamic and exciting category in entertainment across all platforms today and will play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms,” said Satya Nadella, chairman and CEO, Microsoft. “We’re investing deeply in world-class content, community and the cloud to usher in a new era of gaming that puts players and creators first and makes gaming safe, inclusive and accessible to all.”

    At the same time, Forbes is reporting that Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick is likely leaving once the deal is completed. Kotick has been under fire for his role in Activision’s culture, and has been accused of knowing about sexual harassment and discrimination accusations, but not taking the necessary steps to address the problem.

    Given that Microsoft is working to establish itself as a safe work environment, it’s unlikely Kotick would have place within the company once the deal is finalized.

    According to NPR, Nadella alluded to the challenges involved in reining in Activision’s culture in a call with investors.

    “After the close, we will have significant work to do in order to continue to build a culture where everyone can do their best work,” Nadella said. 

    In the meantime, here’s to hoping Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard will lead to a Starcraft 3…

  • Liam Neeson Kills It in ‘Candy Crush: The Movie’

    Liam Neeson has spent a lifetime crushing candy.

    Neeson recently joined Stephen Colbert on The Late Show in the defining role of his career – as part of the new Candy Crush movie.

    “I don’t know who you are. I don’t know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don’t have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my candies go now, that’ll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don’t, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you.”

    Ok, that’s not what this movie is about. Also, it doesn’t really exist. But I’d watch it, would you?

    Could a real movie based on Candy Crush really happen? Well, Activision Blizzard just acquired King digital Entertainment, the makers of Candy Crush, for $5.9 billion.

    Then, Activision announced the formation of Activision Blizzard Studios, which is set to make movies based on its many gaming properties … which now includes Candy Crush.

  • Candy Crush Maker King Now a Part of Activision Blizzard

    Candy Crush Maker King Now a Part of Activision Blizzard

    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

  • “Candy Crush” Invites on Facebook to Become Thing of the Past

    Candy Crush invites on Facebook will soon become a thing of distant memories–and that’s okay with oh, so many Facebook users. If you’re among those constantly receiving invites from friends, family members, and heck—even throngs of people you don’t even know–then you’ll rejoice at this excellent news.

    For those who have yet to be enlightened, Candy Crush is a “match-three puzzle video game” that was released in 2012 for playing on Facebook. It has since been released for cell phone playing as well.

    Although Candy Crush has received nominations for Favorite Video Game and Favorite App from the Kids’ Choice Awards, it gets plenty of play time from adults as well–maybe even more.

    If you don’t play games on Facebook or on your phone, you likely don’t care one iota about the game or the excitement it creates in grown men and women. If you’ve made it this far and never received an invite to play Candy Crush, you’re an anomaly of sorts.

    It was during a meeting on Wednesday, that Facebook’s own Mark Zuckerberg announced that he was stopping the annoying Candy Crush invitations. Zuckerberg also has several other changes that will soon be implemented.

    Watch the full video of today's Townhall Q&A with Mark at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi.

    Posted by Q&A with Mark on Wednesday, October 28, 2015

    Facebook will also soon remove the “other” folder on accounts. This means if someone you’re not “friends” with sends you a message, it will appear in your regular inbox.

    If you’re like many people who lead productive lives, you are no doubt dancing in celebration of the removal of Candy Crush invites. If you’re not, then for the love of everything good, please find something better to do with your time.

  • ‘Candy Crush Saga’ Maker Files for IPO

    The maker of Candy Crush Saga filed its Initial Public Offering (IPO) of up to $500 million today. King Digital Entertainment undoubtedly hopes to follow in the footsteps of Zynga, who filed their IPO in late 2011 and has become one of the biggest leaders in mobile gaming.

    King filed their IPO with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) today and plans to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “KING.” Some analysts believe that King could be worth more than $5 billion, which is less than what Zynga’s valuation was in 2011, but is nothing to scoff at nonetheless.

    Candy Crush Saga was first released in April 2012 and has since become a raging success, which you probably already knew (even if you don’t play the game yourself) if you ever go near Facebook. According to Recode, “King generated profits of $568 million on revenue of $1.88 billion” in 2013. After posting a loss in 2011, the release of Candy Crush has made King into a powerhouse.

    The game has been downloaded more than half a billion times and according to King’s IPO, Candy Crush has almost 130 million daily users as of December 2013. The number of daily active users has steadily increased since the game was first released, so there is no reason to expect the game, which accounts for more than three-fourths of King’s revenue, to drop off anytime soon.

    In addition to Candy Crush Saga, King also has several other games, including Farm Heroes Saga, Papa Pear Saga, Pet Rescue Saga and Bubble Witch Saga. Even though these games don’t currently generate close to the revenue that Candy Crush earns, perhaps the attention King is getting for their IPO will increase their number of users.

    Considering what a cash cow Candy Crush has become, King was recently approved for a trademark of the word “candy” as far as using the word for video games and clothing goes. The company is also trying to trademark the word “saga.” As such, any developers hoping to slip “Candy” in as part of their game title and perhaps capitalize on Candy Crush’s success won’t be successful. Apple is helping protect the trademark, similar to their move to protect Flappy Bird by rejecting any new titles with “Flappy” in their name.

    Image via Twitter

  • King, The Company Behind ‘Candy Crush,’ Files For IPO

    King Digital Entertainment, the company behind the massively popular Candy Crush Saga and other games, announced that it has filed for an initial public offering.

    The company said on Tuesday that it has filed a registration statement on Form F-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission relating to a proposed IPO of its ordinary shares.

    The number of shares and the price are yet to be determined, but the company said it intends to list on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “KING”.

    Here are some graphics from the filling:

    J.P. Morgan, Credit Suisse and OfA Merrill Lynch are acting as joint lead book-running managers and representatives of the underwriters for the offering. Additoinally, Barclays Capital, Deutsche Bank and RBC Capital Markets are acting as joint book-running managers.

    The date of the proposed IPO is listed in the filing as “as soon as practicable after this Registration Statement becomes effective.”

    It’s unclear what effect any of this will have on how many times per day you’re invited by Facebook friends to play Candy Crush Saga.

    Images via SEC.gov