King - née King.com - has announced that it will open an office in Berlin at the beginning of 2014.

Dubbing Germany as a "home to an exceptional amount of games development talent", King CEO Riccardo Zacconi said that Berlin is "one of Europe's leading creative hubs."

"We have no doubt that the Berlin studio will produce fantastic, fun casual games that can be enjoyed by millions of people around the world," he added.

The return of the King

King has not announced who will head up the new studio, but no doubt competition in the region for the "exceptional amount of games development talent" will be fierce among existing Berlin-based studios.

The new Berlin office will be the first in Germany for the UK-based King, stabding alongside its pre-existing offices in Stockholm, Malmö, Barcelona, Malta, Bucharest and San Francisco.

Earlier this year, King surpassed a billion daily play sessions and launched a line of Candy Crush-themed socks and sweets.

King has also filed for an IPO in the United States, and will be the largest initial public offering by a UK-based technology company in years.

[source: GamesIndustry.biz]