Candy Crush Workers Set to Strike: Inside King's Collective Bargaining Standoff With Microsoft

At 05:00 on Friday, September 25, the studio behind Candy Crush Saga is set to walk off the job. Unless state-appointed mediators can broker a deal in the coming days, the strike would be the first in King's history and the most prominent labor action yet inside Microsoft's gaming division.

The contrast is hard to miss. Candy Crush Saga, King's flagship title, generated $875 million in 2025 alone, according to Bloomberg (via Engadget). Yet the company's Swedish management has refused to sign a collective bargaining agreement that its own employees have pursued for more than a year, a decision that has now drawn six unions into open conflict with one of the most profitable mobile studios in the world.

What follows is an explainer on how the dispute reached this point: how a removed private-doctor benefit sparked a 217-member union club, why management said no, and what happens if mediation fails.

How a Doctor Benefit Became a Union

The organizing drive at King began in early 2024, after Microsoft-era management removed a popular private-doctor benefit with roughly a week's notice. The move landed badly, and by October 2024, employees at the company's Stockholm office had voted to form a union club.

By January 2025, that club had grown to 217 members.

For readers unfamiliar with the Swedish model, this is standard practice rather than an unusual step. Sweden has one of the world's most unionized workforces, with roughly 70 percent of workers belonging to a union. Employees form workplace "union clubs," which then negotiate collective bargaining agreements with employers. The system is widely accepted across Swedish industry, including in games.

King operates in Sweden under the legal entity Midasplayer AB, with offices in Stockholm and Malmö, employing just over 550 people in the country.

One Year of Talks, Then a Rejection

Sveriges Ingenjörer, the union representing roughly 100 King members, first requested collective agreement negotiations in May 2025. More than a year of bargaining followed without a deal.

In June 2026, King president Todd Green declined the collective bargaining agreement, citing the company's existing benefits offering and operating model. In a message to staff, Green said "the decision was not made lightly."

That refusal set the current action in motion. On September 15, Unionen and Sveriges Ingenjörer jointly filed strike notices against King. Three more unions - Akademikerförbundet SSR, Naturvetarna, and DIK - subsequently issued their own notices, broadening the action. Unionen ombudsman Timo Rybak confirmed the additional filings on September 17.

With the deadline approaching, Sweden's National Mediation Office (Medlingsinstitutet) will appoint impartial mediators to help the two sides reach an agreement before the walkout is scheduled to begin.

The Money Behind the Dispute

The financial picture at King sharpens the stakes. Candy Crush Saga earned $875 million in 2025 alone, a figure that underscores the tension between the franchise's profitability and the working conditions its staff are now contesting.

The strike also lands during a turbulent stretch for the studio. In July 2025, King laid off around 200 people, including 96 in Stockholm. Initial reports placed the Barcelona cuts at 30, but that figure was later revised to 75, representing 12 percent of that office. The layoffs triggered protests from staff.

Separately, sources told Mobilegamer.biz that King's entire narrative and UX writing teams were let go and replaced by the AI tools they had helped build. Those claims should be treated with caution: they come from unnamed insiders and have not been confirmed by the company. Even so, they have circulated widely among staff and added to the sense of instability surrounding the negotiations.

Why Microsoft's Labor Pledge Doesn't Cover Sweden

King's refusal to recognize the union sits in an awkward position relative to its parent company's public commitments. Microsoft signed a labor neutrality agreement with the Communications Workers of America in 2022, a deal widely framed as a landmark for organized labor in tech. But that agreement applies only to employees represented by the CWA. It does not extend to Swedish unions, leaving King free to decline recognition under Swedish law and practice.

Industry precedent in Sweden cuts the other way. Paradox Interactive and Avalanche Studios have both signed collective bargaining agreements, demonstrating that the model is workable for game developers in the country.

There is broader momentum as well. In September 2026, workers at Blizzard Entertainment ratified their first union contracts, securing wage increases, hybrid work provisions, and "just cause" protections. That outcome has been cited by organizers as evidence that union gains inside Microsoft's gaming empire are achievable, even as King resists them.

King was founded in Stockholm in 2003 and released Candy Crush Saga in April 2012, growing into one of the most recognizable names in mobile gaming long before Microsoft acquired its parent company, Activision Blizzard, in October 2023.

What Happens at 05:00 on September 25

It is worth being precise about the state of play. The strike has been formally noticed, but it is conditional. If mediators secure an agreement before the deadline, the walkout will not proceed. Until then, the correct framing is that King workers are set to strike, not that they are already on it.

In practical terms, a Swedish strike notice is a formal declaration of intended industrial action, filed with the employer and the mediation office. It triggers a mandatory mediation period, during which the National Mediation Office appoints mediators to try to bring the parties to an agreement. If mediation fails and the deadline passes, the unions are legally entitled to begin the walkout.

If the strike proceeds, it will begin at 05:00 local time, with union members at King's Stockholm and Malmö offices expected to stop work and establish picket lines outside the studios. The action would initially involve the roughly 100 members represented by Sveriges Ingenjörer, with additional unions joining over time.

Several outcomes remain possible. The two sides could reach a last-minute agreement, as has happened in numerous Swedish labor disputes. The action could proceed in limited form, with the additional unions expanding it over time. Or it could develop into a prolonged standoff, one that carries reputational consequences for Microsoft well beyond Sweden's borders.

The dispute is also a test case for organizing beyond the CWA's reach. Microsoft's neutrality pledge has been held up as a model for the tech industry, but its limits are now on display: a subsidiary in one of the world's most union-friendly countries can still refuse recognition, and the parent company's commitment offers no remedy.

Whatever happens at 05:00 on September 25, the King dispute has already become a landmark. It is proof that the union momentum inside Microsoft's gaming studios has crossed the Atlantic, and that record Candy Crush profits have not bought labor peace in Stockholm. The open question now is what a Swedish strike would mean for Microsoft's carefully cultivated image as a neutral party to organizing - and whether the mediators can find an answer before the deadline forces one.