King averts strikes by signing agreement with Swedish unions

Candy Crush maker King has signed a collective bargaining agreement with two Swedish unions that mean tomorrow’s planned strikes at its Stockholm and Malmo offices have been called off.

King signed the agreement put forward by Unionen and the Engineers of Sweden hours before the scheduled strikes were to take place, from 5am tomorrow, September 25.

The agreement brings to an end over a year of negotiations between the parties.

The Engineers of Sweden, which represents around 100 of the ~550 staff across King’s Stockholm and Malmo offices, said:

“The new collective bargaining agreement means, among other things, that the employees at King will have better opportunities to influence their work situation. They also gain the right to organise and to receive information in good time when changes affecting the work are made, for example in the event of reorganisations or changed conditions.”

Unionen also welcomed King’s decision to sign the collective bargaining agreement, adding: “Through this agreement, the company is taking an important step towards creating secure and predictable long term conditions for its employees, while also contributing to a more sustainable games industry.”

Unionen and the Engineers of Sweden had issued a strike notice on September 15 after hitting an impasse in negotiations with King.

As we reported earlier this week, King staff appeared to have dodged the latest round of job cuts and restructuring at Xbox, which saw 268 layoffs across its first-party studios, management and central functions. As part of the ongoing reshuffle, King expanded its remit to include Microsoft Casual Games, which makes evergreen titles like Solitaire Collection, Minesweeper and Mahjong for PC and mobile.

Xbox exec Matt Booty confirmed that the new layoffs mean the troubled division is now three quarters of the way through the restructure announced in July. As we reported a week later, King escaped most of July’s Xbox cuts and was effectively ‘promoted’ within the hierarchy, alongside Mojang. Both studios now report directly into Xbox boss Asha Sharma.

In July 2025, we reported that around 200 people were being laid off from King, with early estimates putting the cuts at 96 staff in Stockholm and 30 in Barcelona, and around 70 more roles across London, Berlin and remote positions.

The Barcelona total was later confirmed at 75 staff, 12% of the office’s workforce, prompting a protest. Separate sources also told us that the entire narrative and UX writing teams had been let go and were being replaced by the AI tools they’d helped build.

We later reported on alleged layoff lawsuits, toxic management and low morale at the Candy Crush maker, though one insider claimed that many King staff were ‘pampered’ and overly-sensitive. In March, King refuted the claim that AI had replaced some jobs.