Months ago, Activision Blizzard surprised the video game industry by announcing plans to acquire mobile developer King Digital for $5.9 billion. That acquisition, which went public in early November, has finally closed and now one of the world's largest video game publishers owns a strong player in a mobile gaming. King Digital is the developer of popular games like Candy Crush Saga and all of its spinoffs.
Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, who held the same position at Oracle, said this about King Digital joining the company:
“We see great opportunities to create new ways for audiences to experience their favorite franchises, from Candy Crush to World of Warcraft to Call of Duty and more, across mobile devices, consoles and personal computers.”
Although the publisher has brought many of its popular franchises to mobile devices, none of the titles released have been anywhere near as successful as King Digital's Candy Crush Saga. Many of King Digital's games are still ranked very high on Google Play and Apple's App Store.
King Digital's Riccardo Zacconi will stick around as the developer's CEO along with other founding members despite Activision Blizzard holding ownership. Zacconi is “excited about the future” creating new games and building existing franchises.
The mobile developer was bought for $5.9 billion, which equates to $18 per share. Activision Blizzard is actually making out better considering King Digital went public in 2014 at $22.50 per share after a $7 billion valuation.
Activision Blizzard believes King Digital will generate $6.25 billion in revenue for the company in 2016 alone.
