The company that created the video game Candy Crush announces a redundancy plan for 50 workers in Barcelona
The CGT union accuses the multinational King, bought by Microsoft a year ago, of wanting to dismantle “entire sections” that operate from the Catalan capital
King, the video game company behind titles such as 'Candy Crush', has announced a collective redundancy plan (ERE) affecting 47 people, more than 7% of the workforce at its headquarters in Barcelona. In a statement, CGT has denounced that this collective dismissal plan is added to the "trickle down" of departures that began in October 2023, when the company was bought by Microsoft.
According to the union, with this restructuring the company intends to “dismantle entire departments” that operated from King’s offices located in Barcelona and subcontract their work to other firms or offices of the group.
According to the CGT, workers in these departments have been forced to train their replacements, workers from companies subcontracted by King who operate from countries such as India. Meanwhile, other workers affected by the ERE will hand over their responsibilities to colleagues located in the company's offices in other cities in Europe and the United States.
The union has lamented that King is carrying out a redundancy plan while it is making record profits thanks to its flagship game. By September 2023, Candy Crush Saga is expected to have surpassed $20 billion in revenue since its launch in 2012.
Activision Blizzard's King Group brings in $2 billion in revenue to Microsoft, nearly 30% of the total revenue generated by the tech giant's video game division.
The CGT points out that the ERE of King in the Spanish offices is part of Microsoft's plans to slim down the video game division in 2024. In total, the technology multinational has already decided to lay off 2,550 employees this year alone.
