King Reviews
85% would recommend to a friend
(474 total reviews)
Tjodolf Sommestad
87% approve of CEO
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Found 474 of over 543 reviews
Updated Nov 27, 2023
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Top Review Highlights by Sentiment
Excerpts from user reviews, not authored by Glassdoor
- "(Refer to previous comment about poor performance...) And upper management is completely oblivious to this." (in 8 reviews)
Ratings by Demographics
This rating reflects the overall rating of King and is not affected by filters.
- 5.0Mar 31, 2022HostessCurrent Employee
Pros
Respectful, takes care of staff
Cons
A lot of work to do but it’s worth it
- 4.0Dec 8, 2021CoachCurrent EmployeeNew York, NY
Pros
You get to positively impact children's lives
Cons
It can be difficult working in new schools
- 5.0Jan 17, 2018Anonymous EmployeeCurrent EmployeeNew York, NY
Pros
King's Advertising business is a new, high-energy unit hosted within King (SF-NY-London), with plans to scale to Activision-Blizzard more broadly. Growth is high, hiring fast & accelerating, and there's a lot of breaking new grounds to it. It provides good careers prospects, that feeling of creating, and always doing something new. You don't get the painful political processes of a large empire, while being able to leverage their systems. And King's values are quite prevalent (from internal hires) and lived
Cons
There are definitely downsides to be a start-up within a larger company -- you need to invest more energy in shaping your role/market than you would in a comparable position elsewhere, and it can be a risky path too. Leadership is definitely aware of this and is doing a lot to keep people motivated
2 - 5.0Jul 24, 2018Anonymous EmployeeCurrent Employee, less than 1 yearSeattle, WA
Pros
- Games, Games, Games - surrounded by amazing like-minded nerds who come from some of the best companies around, having worked on some of the world's best IP - Heavy focus on diversity and inclusion, it is not just a buzzword here - Data-informed teams/transparency from leadership - Benefit/Compensation - Free noms - Lots of international travel depending on role - Lack of toxic masculinity that permeates other studio's cultures - everyone is heard here! - Mission statement: Every day we look to create IP and content that makes people smile. We are inclusive, your aunt, mom and best friend have played at least one of our games!
Cons
- If you're in North America, expect lots of early morning calls with folks across the pond. (If you're a morning person, move this bullet into the pro section.) - Certain segments of the business occasionally have a hard time understanding issues based on region and is very EU centric, we're working on it!
- 2.0Dec 4, 2020Salary Employee - Rather Not SayFormer Employee, more than 1 yearSan Francisco, CA
Pros
Fun games, global offices, smart & capable people
Cons
Constant put-downs, name-calling, belittling, stonewalling, gossipping of other colleagues, and extreme micro-managing, I mean into your nights, morning, and weekends. That was my experience with my manager. Years after, I still find myself talking about the experience with my therapist. Thinking back, not all feedback was bad, some were indeed helpful, but not at all communicated in a constructive manner. Inspire your employees, mentor them, if they are still not up to the job, letting them go before all these abusive behaviors. Unfortunately, there were more people who experienced the same under her, none spoke up for various reasons, but the last time I checked, she's been promoted multiple times.
16 - 5.0Mar 22, 2017Game TeamCurrent Employee, more than 3 yearsSeattle, WA
Pros
- Leadership has really paved the way for innovation on our next wave of titles. We have a lot of leeway to be creative and try things to create the next big thing for mobile. - Lunches and snacks are plentiful and the office location in Downtown Seattle is central and near a bunch of great stuff. - Leadership in the studio has given the game teams a lot of autonomy to build the games and features that they want. - We probably have the best culture and teamwork at the studio that we have had in years.
Cons
- Communication with central King Leadership is sometimes slow, which can hamper our ability to get stuff done quickly.
3
King Response7yThank you for taking the time to share your feedback. I will share it on with the local HR team for future reference. Best regards / King HR representative
- 5.0Feb 1, 2017Anonymous EmployeeCurrent Employee, more than 3 yearsSeattle, WA
Pros
The Seattle studio (Z2) is firing on all cylinders - we have exciting new projects, talented co-workers and managers who are dialed in, but give us enough space and empower us to make cool stuff. Last year had lots of ups and downs, but the leadership team here has given us the green light to do what we need to do to make great games. 2017 is going to be a big year for us, excited to see how everything develops.
Cons
Seems like the office budget has gotten tighter, less team events/celebrations than in the past. It's fun to get together on a Friday and talk shop.
- 5.0Feb 9, 2017Anonymous EmployeeCurrent Employee
Pros
Seattle studio has an amazing culture of collaboration and innovation. Lou F has done a great job uniting the studio through informative sprint reviews and all hands meetings, while taking the time to work with all the development teams who are in the process of making the next great game. The studio's only live game, Paradise Bay continues to kick butt after its strong push through the holidays.
Cons
They recently stopped serving lunch on Fridays. Oh well, guess the breakfast, free snacks and drinks will have to do.
3King Response7yGreat and thanks for sharing your experience! And agreed, keeping the focus on creating brilliant games is the most important. Best Regards / King representative
- 4.0Feb 28, 2018Anonymous EmployeeFormer Employee
Pros
The people - Lots of really smart and super friendly people. Great work life balance. Its strongly encouraged to get your work done in a 8hr workday and then turn off. Great senior leadership. Very accessible. Many of them have been there for 10+ years and are still very passionate. Great culture in general.
Cons
Some politics as expected from a company of this size.
4 - 4.0Feb 4, 2018Anonymous EmployeeCurrent Employee, more than 3 yearsSeattle, WA
Pros
Seems like King is really committed to investing in North America. New Senior leader of North American Games who sits in Seattle, seems genuinely interested in the people and what we are doing. We can finally see how the US ties into the rest of King. Also, it sounded like SF is going to grow a lot, excited to have more people in the US. -New games in Seattle -Good vibe -Great location -New teams in SF...we get updates from the studio heads in SF during a new North American call....which in itself is cool -Travel...we all get to go to Stockholm this summer!!!! -We have recently hired a bunch of new people, good to have more energy in Seattle.
Cons
Wish we had more day to day communication in Seattle. My team runs independently which is great, but sometimes it feels like separate studios since we are all so busy. Would be good to have clear studio goals that we can all understand. Saying we need to launch a game seems obvious, but is that really it? I saw the King goals at our CEO call but studio leadership has never spoken of them before or again. What happens when local leaders go to London...can you tell us why you go or what you learned.
1
King Reviews FAQs
King has an overall rating of 4.2 out of 5, based on over 543 reviews left anonymously by employees. 85% of employees would recommend working at King to a friend and 76% have a positive outlook for the business. This rating has improved by 6% over the last 12 months.
85% of King employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews. Employees also rated King 4.5 out of 5 for work life balance, 4.4 for culture and values and 3.9 for career opportunities.
According to reviews on Glassdoor, employees commonly mention the pros of working at King to be career development, culture, benefits and the cons to be senior leadership, management.
