Activision Blizzard, a US computer game company, that produces World of Warcraft and Call of Duty, is buying the Candy Crush Saga maker, King Digital Entertainment. The deal is worth $5.9bn (£3.8bn).
Speaking on the issue, Activision said, “The acquisition would make it a global leader in interactive entertainment across mobile, console and PC platforms.”
With this combination, it would have more than half a billion monthly active users, in 196 countries across the world.
The Call of Duty series is one of the world's best selling console games, while Candy Crush Saga acquired the popularity on the mobile devices. The publishers are now concentrating on growing the consumers online, more than physical.
Bobby Kotick, Activision Blizzard chief executive said, “With a combined global network of more than half a billion monthly active users, our potential to reach audiences around the world on the device of their choosing enables us to deliver great games to even bigger audiences than ever before.”
Among the players of King Digital Entertainment, 60% are females. Consoles or any type of hardware is not needed to play these games.
For each King share, the Activision Blizzard is paying $18. The deal is expected to increase Activision's adjusted revenue and earnings by about 30%.
The main offices of King Digital Entertainment, in London and Stockholm, will continue to operate as an independent unit.
The chief executive of the main offices, Riccardo Zacconi said, “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.”
“We are confident about the acquisition to be successful and would support us in in the coming days. With a valuation of $8bn, King Digital Entertainment floated on the New York Stock Exchange in the March, last year,” Riccardo Zacconi said.
On the other side, in 2012, Candy Crush Saga was first launched on Facebook and smart phones is found to be successful and till date, it is able to make one third of the company’s revenue.
Though the company made more than 200 games after Candy Crush, like Bubble Witch and Farm Heroes, nothing could be as successful as Candy crush.
By Phani Ch
