Candy Crush Meets Call Of Duty in $5.9bn Deal

The maker of Call Of Duty is paying $5.9bn (£3.8bn) for the UK mobile gaming firm behind Candy Crush Saga.

Activision Blizzard (NasdaqGS: ATVI - news) 's investment in King Digital Entertainment (NYSE: KING - news) marks a big shift in its strategy towards the mobile market from its traditional console and PC roots.

Alongside products including Candy Crush, which remains among the most downloaded games apps , the California firm gets more than 470 million "monthly active users" of King's games.

Activision said it was paying $18 (£11.70) per share under the deal - a 20% premium on King's share price - and the company would continue to be run by its existing management team.

It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) meant that Activision was paying less for King stock than investors did on its New York Stock Exchange flotation in March last year.

Its value fell on day one and failed to take off as the company struggled to match the success of Candy Crush with its new offerings.

Bobby Kotick, the chief executive of Activision, said: "The combined revenues and profits solidify our position as the largest, most profitable standalone company in interactive entertainment.

"With a combined global network of more than half a billion monthly active users, our potential to reach audiences around the world on the device of their choosing enables us to deliver great games to even bigger audiences than ever before."

He added: "Activision Blizzard will provide King with experience, support and investment to continue to build on their tremendous legacy and reach new potential.

His counterpart at King, Riccardo Zacconi, said: "We are excited to be entering into this acquisition with Activision Blizzard.

"Since 2003, we have built one of the largest player networks on mobile and Facebook (NasdaqGS: FB - news) , with 474 million monthly active users in the third quarter 2015, and our talented team has created some of the most successful mobile game franchises.

"We believe that the acquisition will position us very well for the next phase of our company’s evolution and will bring clear benefits to our players and employees (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) ."