King declines collective bargaining agreement with Swedish unions

King has decided not to sign a collective bargaining agreement in Sweden after roughly a year of negotiations with Unionen and Sveriges Ingenjörer. The company says it reviewed the impact on its Swedish operations and concluded that its existing benefits package and working model are a better fit for the studio right now.

The decision matters because King is one of the more visible Microsoft-owned game teams in Europe, and its stance lands in the middle of a broader wave of organizing across the company’s subsidiaries. King says its current package already covers areas like pensions, long-term sick pay, private health insurance, and parental leave, and that a CBA would force structural changes to those benefits and to how the studio operates in Sweden.

Unionen’s response makes the core tension clear: employees who backed the union effort wanted the predictability, transparency, and workplace influence that comes with a collective agreement. The union says engagement at King remains strong and that it will keep supporting members in the studio. King, for its part, says it will continue working with local union representatives and consulting unions where required.

The timeline is also worth noting. King employees formed a union club in late 2024 after losing access to private doctors in their benefits package, and formal negotiations began in 2025. King says the decision was communicated to employees in June 2026. For other studios, this is another reminder that “competitive benefits” and “collective agreement” are not always interchangeable, especially when a company...