Activision Blizzard buys Candy Crush Saga Maker

Call of Duty publisher Activision Blizzard has bought King Digital Entertainment, the creator of mobile smash hit Candy Crush Saga, in a deal worth $5.9 Billion. King Digital Entertainment had built one of the largest networks of players on Facebook and on mobile devices noting that King’s games had 474 Million active users in the third quarter of 2015.

Activision already owns one of the biggest gaming franchises in Call of Duty, in addition to Destiny and huge properties such as World of WarCraft and StarCraft as a result of its merger with Blizzard in 2008. The company’s gaming portfolio grows even bigger with the addition of the biggest name in social gaming. Consumer spending on Candy Crush fell 13 percent year over year in the second quarter of this year.

Activision Blizzard games are played on consoles such as Microsoft Xbox and Sony PlayStation. King floated on the New York Stock Exchange in March last year with a valuation of almost $8 Billion making it the most valuable British business of the tech craze. Candy Crush became wildly popular racking up a billion plays a day on smartphones for the company, based in London West End.

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. 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.

Amazon acquires Twitch

Twitch is a startup best known for Twitch.tv, a live streaming platform that lets people stream their favorite video games. It was introduced in June 2011 as a spinoff of fellow streaming platform Justin.tv. The site primarily focuses on video gaming, including playthroughs of video games by users, along with broadcasts of e-sports competitions. Content on the site can be viewed either live or on demand basis.

In the recent news, Amazon acquired Twitch in $970 Million. This acquisition shows Amazon opportunity for the company to show its belief in the future of gaming. Amazon created an in-house gaming studio in 2012 and created a few Facebook and mobile games since then. Amazon is also the top video game vendor in the world. Amazon’s rising prominence as a video game vendor provides a powerful incentive for the company to better integrate itself into gaming culture and promote itself in services commonly used by gamers.

The Twitch acquisition is the latest in a series of commitments that Amazon has made to the gaming world. Amazon powers plenty of game makers through its Amazon Web Service Cloud Computing services, and promises mobile developers easy ways to make more money. Amazon decide to make its own original games and launched Amazon game Studios to create mobile games. In 2011, Twitch gained popularity when it really took off when it struck deals with Microsoft and Sony to power live streaming on the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 consoles.

Twitch makes money by letting users place ads before a stream plays or through subscription. While it is popular video sharing site YouTube but it has more popularity then Google service facility. Google was also said to be vying for Twitch, but the deal fall apart because the tech giant wanted more control over Twitch. But eventually, Amazon may use the channel to bolster its advertising dollars by controlling what ads appear before Twitch videos, or add premium content.