With Eye On Mobile, Activision Buys Candy Crush Maker

Activision Blizzard, the video game company behind Call of Duty and World of Warcraft, is buying King Digital Entertainment, the maker of Candy Crush Saga, for $5.9 billion.

King, which went public in March 2014 at $22.50 a share, has struggled to grow its profit and will sell for just $18 a share. Still, Activision sees potential in the mobile Candy Crush franchise. It hopes to expand its unique user base to include those in emerging markets more likely to use cheap mobile games instead of consoles like Xbox and PlayStation.

Here & Now‘s Peter O’Dowd speaks with Peter Kafka, of Re/code, for a look at what the buyout may mean for the future of video game entertainment.

• Read more via Re/code

Guest

• Peter Kafka, senior editor of media for Re/code. He tweets @pkafka.

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