Social games firm King.com opens Barcelona studio

Social gaming outfit King.com has opened a new development studio in Barcelona, it has announced.

As part of its expansion into Spain, the company has brought in former Digital Chocolate GM Manel Sort to head up the new division.

King.com said it plans to hire more than 40 developers for its new studio to work on mobile and casual social games titles.

“King.com has quickly established itself in the casual social games space with more than 40 million monthly players and 3 billion monthly gameplays,” said King.com CEO Riccardo Zacconi.

“We have been aggressively hiring the best talent in the industry to extend our growth into the mobile games sector, and Manel, with his phenomenal games-development talent and leadership experience, is perfect for leading our newest studio.”

Sort added: "King.com is growing rapidly and is showing great innovation in cross-platform games, particularly with the new Bubble Witch Saga mobile app.

“I am looking forward to building a great team in sunny Barcelona to help the company build new casual social franchises.”

The opening of a Barcelona studio comes shortly after the social games firm opened up a London office in May, and making a huge coup by hiring former EA Playfish developer director Catharina Lavers Mallet to head up operations there.