King, the publisher of the infamous puzzle game Candy Crush Saga, announces its acquisition of a Seattle-based developer called Z2Live. This will be the company’s first-ever studio in the United States territories and the addition to its eight offices in Europe and Southeast Asia.
According to reports, King paid $45 million cash upfront for the studios and will pay up to $105 million depending to the games revenues. Having a studio in the US represents the company’s on-going battle in the $25 billion mobile gaming market.
King also releases its fourth quarter and full year 2014 financial reports. Noted in the report is a 20% increase or to $2.4 billion on its gross bookings, $661 million net cash generated from operating activities, and $964 million cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year.
“Our full year and fourth quarter 2014 results demonstrate the strength of our franchises, the extraordinary power of our massive player network and our ability to repeatedly launch new top grossing games,” said King CEO, Riccardo Zacconi. “This is evident in the strong performance of our most recent launch, Candy Crush Soda Saga, which soared to the top of the mobile download list and became a top 10 grossing game worldwide on Apple’s App Store and Google Play Store very quickly after its launch according to App Annie. We are pleased with this recent success and look forward to continuing to deliver innovative games and features to delight our players in 2015 and beyond.”
