Union workers at King, the Microsoft-owned Candy Crush developer, will walk out on September 25, 2026 if negotiations over a collective bargaining agreement remain unresolved, Sweden's largest trade union Unionen confirmed this week.

The union filed a strike notice with King on September 15. Sweden's National Mediation Office (Medlingsinstitutet) will appoint a mediator; absent a deal, the stoppage begins on the 25th. Three allied unions — Naturvetarna, DIK, and Akademikerförbundet SSR — announced sympathy action on September 17.

How long has the dispute dragged on?

Unionen said it has spent just over a year at the table with King. The Stockholm-headquartered developer employs several hundred white-collar staff in Sweden, and the union claims representation of "a large proportion" of them.

Unionen's account frames the dispute around workplace influence rather than raw compensation. "The campaign for a collective agreement at King has been driven by strong member engagement," the union said in a statement. Members want terms "that strengthens job security and gives them greater influence over workplace terms and conditions." Swedish CBAs typically govern overtime, parental leave, redundancy procedures, and salary-review cadence, not just base pay.

What is King offering in return?

King chief operating officer Ulrika Höjgård pushed back, arguing the studio already meets market norms. "We are confident that our benefits and conditions are in line with, or exceed, what would be provided under a Collective Bargaining Agreement," Höjgård said.

The COO added that King has "established a constructive dialogue with our local union representatives" but has "decided not to enter into a CBA." The studio will, however, "remain committed to continuing this respectful and transparent dialogue on important employee matters," she said.

A Unionen representative, speaking to Game File, narrowed the union's ask. "Our members at King want a collective agreement that gives them greater influence over workplace terms and conditions," the rep said.

Why does this matter beyond King's walls?

A walkout would hit one of mobile gaming's largest live operations. Candy Crush Saga, launched in 2012, has remained a top-grossing title on Apple's App Store and Google Play for over a decade, and live-ops studios depend on daily content drops, event tuning, and metric-driven balancing. King employs several thousand staff across Stockholm, London, Barcelona, Sofia, Malta, and other locations, with the live service pipeline running through its Stockholm headquarters.

King has been a Microsoft subsidiary since October 2023, when the Redmond-based parent closed its $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The Swedish casual games operation predated that deal — Activision Blizzard bought King for roughly $5.9 billion in 2016.

In Sweden, collective bargaining coverage runs above 88% of workers, among the highest rates in the OECD. A multi-union standoff at a Microsoft-owned studio places unusual scrutiny on the parent's labor relations posture across the Nordics.

What happens next?

The mediator's window runs in days, not weeks. The National Mediation Office can schedule successive sessions through September 24. Watch its bulletins for a settlement announcement; absent one, the strike commences on September 25 and King's live service cadence faces its first work stoppage at this scale in recent memory.