The company Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI), better known for their games “Call of Duty” and “World of Warcraft” has just acquired King Digital Entertainment Plc (NYSE: KING), the creators of hit game Candy Crush Saga. The $5.9 billion purchase or $18 per share was a big move for the company.
In 2014, a sum of £865 million ($1.3 billion) was spent by fans in purchases within the Candy Crush game. The company has fought to prove that they are not just a one-hit wonder and even though a decline of 28% was reported over the year, King Digital keeps proving their success with their newest Candy Crush app called Saga and their 474 million monthly active users. In March of last year, the company was able to debut on the New York Stock Exchange.
Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, said, “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,” as ABC News reported.
Activision Blizzard is known for their PC and console games, but they have yet a lot of work to do when it comes to creating and adapting games to meet the demand of mobile users.
Even though Kind Digital will operate as an independent unit within Activision Blizzard, Riccardo Zacconi, chief executive officer of King believes that the purchase “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.”
Zacconi and his team have built one the largest player networks on mobile and Facebook. They have alleged that they will put all efforts into creating the best innovative games to their millions of players.
Some critics have said that the real question is if the company is going to be able to expand their network through the creation of new games since Kings’ current success is heavily founded on the Candy Crush franchise.
Source: ABC News