nodullnaija: Candy Crush Sold For $5.9bn

Activision Blizzard, the American developer behind hit video game franchises World of Warcraft and Call of Duty, has bought Candy Crush Saga creator King Digital Entertainment for $5.9bn (£3.8bn).
The deal will position Activision, which has previously focused on developing games for PCs and consoles, as a global leader in mobile gaming – the largest and fastest-growing area of interactive entertainment, that is expected to generate over $36bn in revenue by the end of 2015.

"Mobile gaming is the largest and fastest-growing opportunity for interactive entertainment and we will have one of the world's most successful mobile game companies and its talented teams providing great content to new customers, in new geographies throughout the world," said Bobby Kotick, chief executive of Activision Blizzard.

"King has a truly fantastic management team and over 1,600 incredibly talented employees and we are excited to welcome them into the Activision Blizzard family."

Candy Crush Saga is one of the most successful mobile games in the world, with almost 100m daily players, but its British creator, King Digital Entertainment, has been under growing pressure to branch out from its fail-safe "puzzle game" format.

Despite a disastrous IPO in March 2014, which saw the company's share price drop 15pc on its first day, and its decision to issue a $150m dividend the following August, King has managed to turn its fortunes around, reporting full-year revenue growth of 20 per cent in February 2015.

This was largely thanks to the success of Candy Crush Soda Saga – the latest game in the Candy Crush franchise – which gave the company an unexpected boost, returning the franchise to sequential growth in daily active users.

Both Candy Crush Saga and Candy Crush Soda Saga were in the top 5 grossing games on both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store in the US for the third quarter 2015, thanks to their use of in-app purchases, according to independent app analytics company App Annie.

Commenting on the acquisition by Activision, Riccardo Zacconi, chief executive of King, said it would position the company well for the next phase of its evolution.

"Since 2003, we have built one of the largest player networks on mobile and Facebook, with 474m monthly active users in the third quarter 2015, and our talented team has created some of the most successful mobile game franchises," he said.

"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."

According to Fabien Nicolas, vice president of marketing communications and community at App Annie, the acquisition highlights the importance of mobile as a key factor of growth for publishers in today’s gaming market.

It will also help Activision to expand its global reach. Brands like Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Starcraft and Guitar Hero tend to appeal to male hobbyists and core gamers between the ages of 13 and 35, whereas King has a strong and vibrant community of female players from 18 to over 50.

"Activision has taken in the past a more reserved approach to mobile, releasing only a handful of titles, like Hearthstone, and mainly using mobile apps as side experiences to their PC and console games. In the meantime, global competitors such as EA or Tencent have embraced this new sector," he said.

"However, this acquisition clearly demonstrates a new commitment to mobile for Activision as well as the will to diversify their IP portfolio to a more global female audience."