King, the Microsoft-owned studio best known for Candy Crush, has declined its staff’s collective bargaining agreement after a year of negotiations.
The report comes from Kotaku after reading an internal email sent by president Todd Green to employees in June. The staff at King has been in negotiations for a year, originally filling the bargaining request via Swedish trade unions Unionen and Sveriges Ingenjörer.
As per the report, Green told staff “the decision was not made lightly.” The reasons are two-fold: first, Green reportedly said the company’s “current benefits offering is better for our employees,” including areas like long-term sick pay, parental leave, private health insurance, and enhanced pension.
The second reason is that King believes its “current operating model is the right fit for King, including our operations in Sweden, at this time.” The company president says that entering into a collective bargaining agreement “would require significant changes to how we operate in Sweden, including our processes, policies, and ways of working.”
For context, which is also noted in Kotaku’s report, any eligible Swedish worker can join one of several trade unions that represent their field at any time. Those trade unions then negotiate broadly within their sectors over working conditions.
Yet, if enough employees within a specific employer desires to, they can form a union club at their workplace. This allows the group to elect a union board to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement on their behalf with the employer. But said agreement can be rejected. Employers are required to negotiate in good faith, otherwise, the rejection could open the company up to potential collective action by employees to pressure the company into reconsidering. As Kotaku remarks, it’s currently unclear whether or not that is being considered at King.
Green reportedly added that King recognizes the need for “stronger dialogue, more opportunities to ask questions, and…better context around company decisions that affect them.”
In a statement sent to Kotaku, a King spokesperson confirmed the news, as well as the timing of the communication of it to employees in June. “As a Swedish founded company, we have great respect for the Swedish labor market model, for collective agreements, and for those who work to secure strong conditions for employees in Sweden,” reads the statement.
“King offers fair and competitive employment terms, and we are confident that our benefits and conditions are in line with, or exceed, what would be provided under a collective bargaining agreement.”
A Unionen representative also sent a statement to Kotaku, saying the decision is “naturally disappointing to many of the members who have actively supported the effort to reach an agreement.”
As per the representative, Unionen remains committed to supporting the King staff, as well as the goal of securing the agreement. “Following the summer, the dialogue with members will continue to discuss the way forward,” the statement continues. “Unionen’s long-term ambition remains that more employees in the Swedish labor market should be covered by collective bargaining agreements.”
For context, employees at King formed a union club back in late 2024 after the sudden removal of a private doctor benefit (thanks, IGN). Since then, Microsoft has laid off employees of the team, with around 200 people reportedly being made redundant at King’s offices in Barcelona, Spain, back in 2025. It’s unclear how many staff were affected in last month’s restructuring from the parent company, which outlined a plan of cutting 3,200 jobs. Last year, King reportedly replaced a number of employees with AI tools created internally.
You can read the complete report by Kotaku as well as both statements sent to the publication here.