In 2016, which video game holding company acquired King, the maker of Candy Crush?

In 2016, video game holding company Activision Blizzard acquired King, the maker of Candy Crush.

King was founded in Stockholm in 2003 and became a major social and mobile-game publisher. Its breakthrough hit, Candy Crush Saga, launched in 2012 and used a free-to-play model in which the game was free to download but offered optional in-game purchases. The title’s enormous audience made King an attractive way for a console-and-PC publisher to enter mobile gaming more deeply.

Activision Blizzard announced plans to buy King in November 2015 for approximately $5.9 billion. The transaction closed on February 23, 2016. King continued operating as a distinct business within Activision Blizzard, alongside the Activision and Blizzard operating units.

A frequent mix-up is the year: the announcement happened in 2015, but completion happened in 2016. Another is Microsoft. Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard in 2023, meaning King later became part of Microsoft’s Xbox organization, but Activision Blizzard was the company that acquired King.