King's remit grows to Microsoft Casual Games during latest Xbox restructuring

Candy Crush developer King appears to have avoided the bulk of Microsoft's latest round of Xbox job cuts while simultaneously receiving a broader role inside the organisation. Mobilegamer.biz reports that Xbox's current restructuring involves 268 job losses across first-party studios, Xbox Game Studios management and central functions, but King is not believed to be among the areas taking the heaviest impact.

Instead, its remit is expanding to include Microsoft Casual Games, the organisation behind long-running products such as Microsoft Solitaire Collection, Minesweeper and Mahjong across PC and mobile. King and Mojang already report directly to Xbox chief Asha Sharma following changes announced in July, reflecting their enormous monthly active audiences relative to much of Microsoft's traditional console portfolio.

The development is significant for mobile because it places more of Microsoft's casual-game operation alongside a company whose expertise is almost entirely built around gigantic, persistent mobile audiences. It does not mean everything is calm inside King. Employees in Stockholm and Malmö are preparing industrial action on September 25 following a dispute over a collective bargaining agreement. King also cut roughly 200 jobs last year.

Even so, today's restructuring reinforces something Microsoft's organisational chart increasingly makes difficult to ignore: mobile and evergreen casual games are no longer peripheral pieces of Xbox's business.