King
King makes Candy Crush and other mobile puzzle games, owned by Microsoft's Xbox division.
On the record
Checkpoint: Full-year 2026 Candy Crush vs Royal Match revenue comparison and Xbox reset stabilization review
The call
King still makes real money off an aging hit while a faster-growing rival closes in and its own parent keeps cutting the team around it.
King is a game company owned by Microsoft that makes Candy Crush, a puzzle game played by millions. A newer competitor called Dream Games is winning with a similar game called Royal Match, which now makes more money ($788M vs $602M in the first half of 2025) and is growing faster. King just laid off staff twice in one year and is cutting creative and management jobs, so the company itself is stable for a few years, but the team and jobs there are not. If Royal Match keeps pulling ahead in the next year, King will likely cut more staff and replace workers with artificial intelligence.
Why
01
AI pressure: In-house AI content tools replacing King's own design, writing and QA staff. King already uses AI for level design and writing after cutting the humans who did it, trading creative depth for lower cost. Could AI do the core job? Only partly.
02
Bigger players: Dream Games (Royal Match). Royal Match pulled in $788M in H1 2025 versus Candy Crush's $602M, and it is growing faster, 15% versus 11%. Could a giant copy it? Yes, easily.
03
What protects it. Candy Crush still pulls in roughly $1.6B a year with 150M+ monthly players, giving Microsoft a cash reason to keep funding it.
What would change this call
Royal Match vs Candy Crush H1/H2 2026 revenue figures when reported. Shows whether Dream Games' lead is widening or King is closing the gap.
Any third King-specific layoff round or new AI tool rollout in creative teams. Would confirm deeper restructuring and role instability beyond the two 2025 cuts.
Public moves by Xbox CEO Asha Sharma on King's resourcing or reporting structure. Indicates whether Microsoft treats King as growth priority or cost center.
Any third King-specific layoff round or new AI tool rollout in creative teams. Would confirm deeper restructuring and role instability beyond the two 2025 cuts.
Public moves by Xbox CEO Asha Sharma on King's resourcing or reporting structure. Indicates whether Microsoft treats King as growth priority or cost center.
Key numbers
- $1.6B Candy Crush revenue in 2025
- $788M Royal Match H1 2025 revenue, +15% YoY
- 3,200 Xbox division jobs cut
Named risks
- Second Xbox-wide layoff wave (3,200 roles, July 2026) could deepen into King specifically.
- Dream Games' Royal Match continues overtaking Candy Crush in revenue and growth in core match-3 category.
- Conflicting reports on AI adoption create uncertainty and reported litigation from laid-off staff.
- New reporting line to Xbox CEO could reshape resourcing and reduce King autonomy within Microsoft.
Rivals, as read in July 2026
| Rival | Direction | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Dream Games (Royal Match) | gaining on | Royal Match hit $788M vs Candy Crush's $602M in H1 2025, growing +15% vs +11% |
| Zynga | contesting | Competes for casual mobile attention and UA spend, est. $2.4-3.0B annual mobile revenue |
| Playrix | contesting | Large-scale match-3 adjacent rival for attention and ad spend, 2026-03-20 |
| Playtika | contesting | Social casino leader competing for player time and monetization benchmarks |
Questions people ask
- Is King (Candy Crush maker) profitable?
- Yes. Candy Crush Saga alone generated close to $1.6 billion across App Store and Google Play in 2025, plus $765.1 million in H1 2026, per AppMagic estimates cited by Pocketgamer.biz (2026-07-07). It remains a top-10 grossing mobile game globally.
- Will AI replace jobs at King?
- Reports conflict. TechSpot (2025-07-16) said AI tools took over level design, narrative, UX and QA work tied to ~200 layoffs in July 2025, but GamesIndustry.biz (2025-08-27) cited an internal source calling King 'AI sceptic' with adoption 'very low' apart from ChatGPT.
- Is it safe to take a job at King right now?
- Risky timing. King cut roughly 200 staff (~10% of workforce) in July 2025, and in July 2026 Microsoft announced 3,200 Xbox-wide cuts and flattened management from 14 to 5 layers, with King's specific exposure to this second wave undisclosed.
- Who owns King, the Candy Crush company?
- King is a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Activision Blizzard bought King for about $5.9 billion, closing February 23, 2016; Microsoft then acquired Activision Blizzard in October 2023, and as of July 2026 King reports directly to Xbox CEO Asha Sharma.
- Who is King's biggest competitor?
- Dream Games' Royal Match. In H1 2025 Royal Match earned $788M (+15% YoY) versus Candy Crush Saga's $602M (+11% YoY) per AppMagic data (2025-09-04), meaning the smaller Istanbul studio now out-earns and out-grows Candy Crush in match-3.
- Is Candy Crush declining?
- Not in absolute terms, but it is losing category leadership. Candy Crush still pulled in about $1.6B in 2025 revenue, but Royal Match overtook it in both revenue and growth rate in H1 2025, and King has cut staff twice in 12 months.
Timeline
- 2026-07-07King and Mojang moved to report directly to Xbox CEO Asha Sharma after company reset
- 2026-07-06Microsoft/Xbox announces 3,200-role cuts, flattens management from 14 to 5 layers
- 2025-08-27GamesIndustry.biz reports internal source calling King 'AI sceptic', contradicting AI-replacement claims
- 2025-07-16Reports say AI tools took over design, narrative and QA work amid King layoffs
- 2025-07-02King lays off roughly 200 staff (~10% of workforce) in Microsoft gaming cuts
- 2023-10Microsoft closes acquisition of Activision Blizzard, taking ownership of King
- 2016-02-23Activision Blizzard acquires King for roughly $5.9 billion
- 2012Candy Crush Saga launches
- 2003-08King founded in Stockholm as Midasplayer.com
Revision history
23 July 2026
First assessed. Losing its protection. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.
In the same band
Sources
- King and Mojang to report directly to Xbox CEO Asha Sharma after company reset (2026-07-07)
- Mobile Casual Games in H1'25 (2025-09-04)
- Candy Crush Saga (2026-07-22)
- The $1 billion game that says AI can't replace human creativity (2026-06-15)
- King Employee Directory, Headcount & Staff (2026-06-08)
- King Digital Entmt Number of Employees 2026 (2026-06-29)
- Candy Crush studio hit by layoffs as AI takes over design and writing work (2025-07-16)
- Microsoft Layoffs Hit Candy Crush & Call of Duty Makers (2025-07-02)
- A 'painful' reset for Xbox (2026-07-07)
- King (company)
- King Company Growth, Stability & Outlook 2026 (2026-05-07)
- Performance didn't matter in King layoffs (2025-08-27)