King employees prepare to strike as the Candy Crush studio refuses to sign a collective agreement

Employees at King, the Candy Crush developer and a Microsoft subsidiary, are preparing to strike. For a little over a year, Unionen, Sweden's largest trade union, negotiated with the studio over a collective agreement, but the talks have reached a deadlock. If the parties fail to reach an agreement, workers will walk out on September 25, 2026.

The union acknowledges that working conditions at King are good. Employees want more influence over working conditions and workplace rules at the company. Studio management says it has decided not to sign a collective agreement.

Employees' demands

According to Unionen, the union represents a “significant share” of King's office staff. The organization says the campaign for a collective agreement is driven by the employees themselves. Their demands come down to two points:

• stronger job security;
• more influence over working conditions and workplace rules at the company.

A union representative told Game File that members have good working conditions at King but want more autonomy. “Our members at King want a collective agreement that gives them more influence over their working conditions,” he said.

Mediation and a sympathy strike

Unionen served King with a strike notice on September 15, after which mediation begins. The Swedish National Mediation Office (Medlingsinstitutet) will appoint a mediator to try to bring the parties to an agreement. If no deal is reached, the strike will begin on September 25.

On September 17, three more Swedish unions — Naturvetarna, DIK and Akademikerförbundet SSR — announced a sympathy strike in support of Unionen.

The company's position

King COO Ulrika Höjgård maintains that the studio offers “fair and competitive terms of employment.”

“We are confident that our benefits and conditions match or exceed what a collective agreement would provide. We have also built a constructive dialogue with local union representatives. Although we have chosen not to sign a collective agreement, we remain committed to continuing a respectful and open dialogue on issues that matter to our employees.”

What this means for the industry

The two sides disagree on how formally working conditions should be secured. The company relies on its own commitments, while employees are seeking contractual guarantees. The union is likely working from the premise that terms set unilaterally by an employer can just as easily be revised by it.

In Sweden, collective agreements have traditionally been the foundation of labor relations, so other Swedish game studios and their employees are likely to watch the King dispute closely. If King signs an agreement under the threat of a strike, workers at companies that don't yet have such agreements will gain a strong argument.

The conflict comes amid growing unionization in the games industry, including at Microsoft studios. The industry is going through waves of layoffs, and job security appears to be becoming one of developers' key demands. King employees, meanwhile, are seeking protection against possible future deterioration of their conditions rather than complaining about the current ones.

If the strike goes ahead, the studio could face delays to updates for Candy Crush and other titles that ship regular content. If mediation fails, King will have to choose between holding its position and a work stoppage by a significant portion of its staff.

Community reaction

On X, the reaction to the upcoming strike at King has so far been modest and noticeably divided. In the English-speaking gaming segment, solidarity with the employees is more common: the studio is criticized for refusing a collective agreement for over a year despite Candy Crush's huge revenue and being part of Microsoft, and players are urged to delete the game. The Spanish-speaking Xbox audience responds mostly with jokes — the grandmas playing Candy Crush had better keep an eye on the news. In the Swedish feed, the tone is harsher and more skeptical: the conflict is compared to the Tesla and Spotify cases. Some commentators believe the unions are pressuring a company whose conditions are already no worse than a collective agreement's, and that this will scare businesses away from Sweden. Others, by contrast, note that unlike at Tesla, it is the employees themselves who are fighting for the agreement, and doubt whether they will actually strike on September 25.

“How will people buy their game if they don't pay their workers”

— @Harunakama1 (X)

“If you target companies without an agreement even though employees already have the same or better conditions, what grows is resentment toward the union. It's also a warning not to start a business in Sweden and a reason to leave.”

— @StefanHamilton (X)

“If you play Candy Crush and care about workers' rights, you should delete the game from your devices. King has gone on the attack against developer unions — just like Tesla and Spotify before it.”

— @Ac3Tones (X)

What lies behind King's refusal to sign a collective agreement: saving on staff costs, confidence in its own terms, or fear of losing flexibility?