Candy Crush Saga to be distributed in China by Tencent this summer

Candy Crush Saga publisher King Digital Entertainment is bringing the sugary sensation to China this summer with the help of Chinese internet and media firm Tencent, King announced today.

Tencent will distribute a Chinese version of Candy Crush Saga on its Mobile QQ and WeChat services. Candy Crush Saga is already available elsewhere in Asia — last year, King released the game in Japan and South Korea.

"I am thrilled to be launching Candy Crush Saga with Tencent in China," said Riccardo Zacconi, CEO of King, in a press release today. "Tencent has the largest mobile social network in China and is a great partner to work with. I look forward to working together to make Candy Crush Saga as popular in China as in the rest of the world."

"Tencent always hopes to bring global premier mobile games to China, and Candy Crush is one of the best. We are excited that our collaboration will combine King's enjoyable mobile gaming experience and Tencent's strong game publishing and operation capabilities in China. We are looking forward to bringing great moments of fun to Chinese users soon," said Steven Ma, senior vice president of Tencent.

In February, King reported that as of December 2013, it had 93 million daily active users for Candy Crush Saga, which is the publisher's most popular game by far. The company went public in late March with an initial public offering set at $22.50 per share, for a total valuation of about $7 billion.