Here’s why King gave away its 2D mobile game engine Defold

‘Tis the season of giving for game engines. King Digital Entertainment acquired the Defold game engine back in 2014 to make two-dimensional mobile titles. It enhanced the engine and published Blossom Blast Saga using Defold.

But the European game company, which Activision Blizzard recently acquired for $5.9 billion, has decided to release the engine for free to anyone else who wants to use it. King chief technology officer Thomas Hartwig explained why in an interview with GamesBeat at the Game Developers Conference last week.