King staff could strike after the Candy Crush maker rejects collective bargaining agreement

Two Swedish trade unions have issued a formal strike notice against King after the Microsoft-owned company rejected a collective bargaining agreement. The threat follows over a year of talks.

Previously Kotaku reported that King president Todd Green told staff in a June email that, after a year of negotiations, the company had declined a collective bargaining agreement because its “current benefits offering is better for our employees.”

Following that rejection, Sveriges Ingenjörer and Unionen have now escalated to a formal strike notice, warning that if no resolution is reached, strike action is set to begin at 5am on Friday September 25. The action will affect King’s Stockholm and Malmö offices. Sweden’s National Mediation Office will appoint independent mediators to try to broker a deal before then.

Sveriges Ingenjörer says it represents around 100 members at King, which operates in Sweden as Midasplayer AB.

“Strike is not something we take lightly, but the signal from our members at King is that they want us to take the next step to secure their conditions and influence,” said Camilla Frankelius, chief negotiator at Sveriges Ingenjörer.

Unionen’s chief negotiator, Martin Wästfelt, said the union sees “no other option” after failing to reach an agreement.

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.