Activision is a bit like\u00a0The Blob, that 1950s movie monster. It keeps eating, and it keeps growing.<\/p>\n
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Activision\u2019s latest meal isn\u2019t a beloved game studio or hot new indie, but rather a venture in a direction the company has a bit less experience, and it\u2019s not a small meal, either. This time, Activision has consumed the mobile publisher King, best known for\u00a0Candy Crush Saga<\/em>, lots of other sugar-related sagas, and trying to\u00a0trademark the word \u201cSaga.\u201d<\/em> Okay, maybe we won\u2019t miss them like so many others, but this puts yet another of the biggest games in western markets under a single umbrella:\u00a0Call of Duty, World of Warcraft,\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Candy Crush Saga.<\/em> The deal went down for a whopping $5.9 billion, over twice that of the $2.5 billion\u00a0Microsoft paid for\u00a0Minecraft<\/em>.<\/p>\n Kotick said in a prepared statement that the mobile publisher will continue to operate independently, but ultimately the money is ending up in the same place, turning what was already a big company into a monolithic one. As\u00a0GamesBeat\u00a0<\/em>points out, Activision and King were already two of the biggest game companies, and together they\u2019ll stand head and shoulders over just about everyone else on the market with the exception of the Chinese publisher Tencent, who has investment\u00a0in\u00a0League of Legends<\/em> and Epic Games.<\/p>\n At this point Activision has some of the most popular products in each of the biggest categories with the exception of the MOBA space. World of Warcraft<\/i> continues to rule the MMO space, while\u00a0Call of Duty<\/em> is still the king of the hill in the shooter world.\u00a0Destiny<\/em>bridges the gap between the two.\u00a0Skylanders<\/em> was the first Toys to Life game and continues to do well in spite of\u00a0Disney Infinity, LEGO Dimensions<\/em>, and\u00a0Nintendo\u2019s amiibo line. Now they\u2019re tops in the mobile space, too.<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t typically a space most core gamers care about, but with this acquisition it\u2019s something to watch.<\/p>\n