Candy Crush Brings In Sweet Revenue

King, the global gamemaker of the overwhelmingly popular game Candy Crush Saga, has over 100 million people playing this game each day. This certainly gives their gamemaking rivals something to think about. If you enjoy playing Angry Birds or Minecraft, you are already familiar with two other European tech firms, Rovio, maker of Angry Birds, and Mojang, maker of Minecraft. King is simply the latest of these gamemakers to achieve huge success with the global gaming scene. Although many firms try to make it big in this industry, few fail to obtain the type of profit and success as these three firms. These three success stories are what other companies strive to be like in the gaming industry.

Popular Puzzle Brings In Huge Profit

Although King does not reveal their profits, some reports are saying they were making $633,000 per day a few months back and lately $850,000 per day. However, it’s estimated that their revenue is between $1-$3 million daily, with an estimated IPO value of $5 billion. King has achieved this rare profit by concentrating on creating addictive puzzles targeted at the fastest growing area of gaming.

History Of King

More than ten years ago, King was created by a group of friends who worked together at a tech startup. They received funding for their business in 2005 from Index Ventures and Apex Partners, and have made profit since the beginning. Their success strategy lies in getting players to play a “free” model of the game, with the option of purchasing additional lives or some type of booster to help them beat a certain level. Candy Crush Saga has been particularly successful in creating revenue for the company, as people become addicted and are willing to “buy” more lives or something to get them past the level they’ve been stuck on for days or longer. Some analysts even refer to this huge success as a global phenomenon, putting King into a whole different category than their competition.

What Is All The Fuss About?

Candy Crush is a puzzle game where players line up 3-D candies and have to clear jelly, beat chocolates, or knock out licorice. Many articles on the internet offering cheats and tips to play better in this game. The game is available on either Facebook or on a smartphone app. To this date, it is Apple’s number one grossing app in the United States, and it has ranked at #1 on Facebook apps for a solid nine month period. There is also talk about a version of Candy Crush for new platforms such as the smart TV.

An Unexpected Mobile Hit

Mobile game revenues from Apple iOS and Google Playstore are expected to be more than $10 billion, with about half of this enormous amount generated by seven different publishers, one of which is King. The opinion of the Chief Creative Officer at King, Sebastian Knutsson, is that the game is so addictive to players because it has equal parts of fun and pain and appeals to the short attention spans of players. He feels players in the mobile generation are more interested in short game rounds rather than long games. Knutsson expressed that King has expected the game to do well on Facebook, but the mobile success really took them by surprise. King originally shifted focus to the mobile platform because the game worked well with it and market was booming.

Why Candy Crush Remains Successful Where Others Failed

Candy Crush appeals to players because of its colorful graphics and the ability to be able to purchase more “lives” after they’ve used them all, instead of waiting 30 minutes for another one. The game also has a real social aspect about it, where players can share their successes, failures, and frustrations with the game. Other gaming firms have experienced great success with developing social games on Facebook, such as Zynga, who created FarmVille. FarmVille was a huge hit in which players helped each other raise livestock and harvest crops. However, because of the migration toward mobile based apps, Zynga’s revenues have taken a huge hit.

Future Of Mobile Gaming

It is estimated by the market research company Newzoo, that by the year 2016, global gaming revenues might reach $86.1 billion, with the fastest growth being in mobile gaming. By then, it is thought mobile gaming will account for up to 30% of this revenue, an increase from the current 17% in 2013.

King currently offers 150 different games and receives over a billion game plays on a daily basis. The company is also working on its next line of mobile games for when the popularity of Candy Crush begins to fade. The gamer is already working on a mobile version of their Papa Pear Saga, and it is expected that they will soon launch a mobile version of Farm Heroes Saga, which is the second most popular app on Facebook, next to Candy Crush. Meanwhile, King has plans to work on gaining more players in Asia, where Candy Crush is catching on, as well as their Supercell’s Clash of Clans game.

Conclusion

As long as you are not seeking to play computer games that improve your fitness level, games like Candy Crush will continue to be great ways to pass a little time. They look to be a continued favorite for the mobile generation for years to come.

So have you beaten Candy Crush? Let us know! I’m at level 147 at the moment and seems to be struggling there forever. Nevertheless, it’s fun! 🙂

[Image credit: Gabriel Montes, Flickr]