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King (company)

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King, also known as King Digital Entertainment, is a Swedish video game developer and publisher that specialises in social games. Headquartered in Stockholm and London,[1] and incorporated as King.com Limited in St. Julian's, Malta,[2] King gained prominence after releasing the cross-platform title Candy Crush Saga in 2012, considered one of than |last=Takihashi |date=18 August 2014 |access-date=20 October 2016 |work=Venture Beat |archive-date=29 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161029011503/http://venturebeat.com/2014/08/18/lessons-from-a-game-guru-candy-crush-saga-creator-once-survived-six-months-without-pay/view-all/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The game attracted more than 4 million players within a few weeks.[3]

The popularity of Bubble Witch Saga and Candy Crush Saga led King.com to start a new strategy into developing for the growing mobile game market, in a manner that would allow players to synchronise with the Facebook platform. Zacconi said that "As consumers and the industry focus more on games for mobile devices, launching a truly cross-platform Facebook game has been a top priority for King.com."[4] A mobile version for iOS device of Bubble Witch Saga was released in July 2012,[4] while the iOS mobile version of Candy Crush Saga was released in October 2012.[5] Both games saw boosts in the number of unique players with the mobile introduction; King.com saw that previously-declining player counts for Bubble Witch Saga become steady with the mobile version's release, while Candy Crush Saga saw more than 5.2 million unique players on Facebook in November 2012 and which were continuing to climb. Additionally, in-game advertising, which factored into about 15% of King.com's revenues, had increased ten-fold from 2011 into 2012.[6] Users jumped to 408 million by the end of 2013.[7] Revenues for King.com increased from a little over $62 million in 2011 to $1.88 billion in 2013.[7]

In March 2013, on the ten-year anniversary of its founding, the company announced it was dropping the ".com" part of its branding and would continue on as just "King".[8]

Initial public offering

In mid-2013, King.com had considered filing an initial public offering (IPO) in the United States. Zacconi had said that "The IPO is an option...We are building the company and part of that is investigating options."[9] The company applied for IPO in September 2013. Its filing was made using allowances in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act to keep details of the IPO secret until it was to be offered. The IPO was backed by Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse Group AG and JPMorgan Chase & Co. The IPO gained great interest, as it followed Zynga's $1 billion IPO in 2011 and Twitter's IPO earlier in the month.[10]

King completed its IPO on 26 March 2014. Priced at $22.50 a share, the middle of its projected price range, the IPO valued the company at US$7.08 billion. About $500 million was raised through the sale of 22.2 million shares. Of that, 15.3 million shares came from the company and the rest from Apax and other stakeholders. It was the largest ever IPO for a mobile/social gaming company in the US, eclipsing Zynga's 2011 offering.[11] To celebrate the debut, Candy Crush mascots took to the New York Stock Exchange.[12] Morris was the company's largest shareholder with approximately 35.6 million shares valued at $821 million.[13][12] The company began trading under the "KING" symbol on the New York Stock Exchange.[11]

Shares of King fell 15.6% on the first day of trading, closing at $19.[12] By June, the company's valuation had dropped by $2 billion, though otherwise was still profitable. Zacconi noted that their strategy from this point was not to find another "mega-hit" like Candy Crush Saga, but to "build a portfolio of games", carrying King's game design approach to other genres.[14] Revenue following the IPO were over $2.6 billion in 2014, with Candy Crush Saga generating nearly half of that amount.[15]

King acquired Seattle-based mobile studio Z2Live in February 2015.[16]

Acquisition by Activision Blizzard

In November 2015, Activision Blizzard announced its plans to acquire King for $5.9 billion. Upon announcement of the news, USA Today reported that the deal "gives Activision immediate access to the growing mobile gaming audience, the fastest-rising sector in video games".[17] On 23 February 2016, Activision Blizzard closed its acquisition of King for a deal of $5.9 billion.[18] Activision Blizzard as a result operates the world's largest game network,[19] reaching around 500 million users[19] in 196 countries.[20] About the King acquisition, the CEO of Activision Blizzard explained that "we see great opportunities to create new ways for audiences to experience their favorite franchises, from Candy Crush to World of Warcraft to Call of Duty and more, across mobile devices, consoles and personal computers."[19]

In January 2019, Humam Sakhnini was installed as president of King, reporting directly to Zacconi.[21] As part of a large workforce reduction announced in February 2019 across the whole of Activision Blizzard, King's Z2Live studio in Seattle was shuttered.[22] Zacconi stepped down as CEO on 1 July 2019, remaining as chairman until August 2020, when he left the company entirely.[21][23] Tjodolf Sommestad, the former chief development officer, replaced Sakhnini in February 2022.[24]

King's games portal site King.com had been rebranded to Royalgames.com, through which they offered paid-entry tournaments for a chance at cash prizes up until 2019, after which this feature was disabled for new accounts. During the first half of 2021, King had been forced to hold back on payout withdrawals by users over an investigation launched by PayPal over these withdrawals, eventually unfreezing accounts by June 2021 once the investigation was complete.[25] King announced in October 2021 that the portal would be shuttered in December 2021 in a phased removal of the available games. Players that still had funds available on the site would be able to continue to withdraw these funds for some indefinite time after games from the site had been removed.[26]

In June 2022, King acquired the Swedish AI company Peltarion.[27]

Revenue model

King's games, prior to June 2013, made revenue for the company through a combination of in-game advertising and microtransactions. These microtransactions allow for players to use funds to purchase in-game booster items that could be used to help clear certain levels, additional lives, and immediate access to new levels instead of having to wait for a few days.

In June 2013, the company opted to remove all in-game advertising from their games, relying solely on microtransactions. The company stated that due to their "focus around delivering an uninterrupted entertainment experience for our network of loyal players across web, tablet and mobile has unfortunately led to the difficult decision of removing advertising as a core element of King's overall strategy".[28] Advertising revenue had only made up 10% of the company's earnings in 2012, and only 1% within 2013; the company in its IPO files stated they do not anticipate any further earnings from advertising revenue.[29] While King relies heavily on in-game purchases, it is estimated that only single-digit percentages of all players of their games have spent money on their titles. In Q4 2014, King had 356 million monthly unique users, with 8.3 million of them spending money. The 2.3% that pay spent an average of $23.42 a month within the games.[15] King stated that their model is aimed to continue to draw existing and new players to all of their games: "If the cost to acquire players is greater than the revenue we generate over time from those players and if we cannot successfully migrate our current players to new games and new platforms as we have historically done so, our business and operating results will be harmed".[29]

Games

King games offer asynchronous play, enabling users to connect to their Facebook account whilst playing on their smartphone or tablet device. This means that the user's progress is updated across all platforms, allowing the player to switch from smartphone, to tablet, to Facebook without losing their progress in the game.[30] |- | Farm Heroes Super Saga | Available | Expanding on Farm Heroes Saga, players must help the squirrel to get the nuts by moving the squares on the board however each move you take the wind blows in that direction moving the couloirs on the board. |- | Shuffle Cats | Discontinued | A game like rummy where the object is to meld a number of cards before the opponent does. |- | rowspan="2" | 2017 | Bubble Witch 3 Saga | Available | A sequel in the Bubble Witch Saga series. |- | Legend of Solgard | Discontinued | Developed by Snowprint Studios and originally published by King, but now by Snowprint Studios, a role-playing game with match-3 gameplay mechanics.[31] |- | rowspan="2" | 2018 | Diamond Diaries Saga | Available | A match-3 linking game title. |- | Candy Crush Friends Saga | Available | A sequel in the Candy Crush Saga series.[32] |- | 2019 | Pet Rescue Puzzle Saga | Discontinued | A sequel in the Pet Rescue Saga series.[33] |- | 2020 | Knighthood - Epic RPG Knights | Discontinued | A free-to-play, turn-based strategy RPG, now published by Midoki Roleplaying Games. |- | 2021 | Crash Bandicoot: On the Run! | Discontinued | An auto-runner game based on Activision's Crash Bandicoot series.[34] |- |2022 |Rebel Riders |Available | |}

Controversies

Trademark dispute

In January 2014, King attracted controversy after attempting to trademark the words "Candy" and "Saga" in game titles.[35] This directly impacted Stoic's trademark request for The Banner Saga, to which King filed an opposition, calling the name "deceptively similar" to King games.[35] Stoic said that the dispute hindered work on a planned sequel to their game.[36] On 17 April 2014, it was reported that King has settled its disputes with Stoic Studio and Runsome Apps.[37]

Cloning dispute

Also in January 2014, game developer Matthew Cox accused King of ripping off his game Scamperghost, saying King's Pac-Avoid was a clone of it. According to Cox, he was in talks with King about licensing Scamperghost, but when the deal fell through the company released the game Pac-Avoid. Cox said Epicshadows, the developer of Pac-Avoid, told him that King had approached them to "clone the game very quickly".[38] King removed the game from its website, but denied the cloning allegation, stating that they were removing the game "for the avoidance of doubt".[39]

References

  1. ^ "Celebrating 20 Years of Gaming Excellence: King's Milestone Journey". www.businesswire.com. 2023-09-27. Retrieved 2023-10-04.
  2. ^ "King.com". www.king.com. Retrieved 2023-10-04.
  3. ^ Caoili, Eric (1 May 2012). "Candy Crush Saga highlighted in this week's fastest-growing Facebook games". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on 20 October 2016. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
  4. ^ a b Valdes, Giancarlo (26 July 2012). "Bubble Witch Saga for iOS is the first mobile game to sync player progress with Facebook". Venture Beat. Archived from the original on 23 December 2016. Retrieved 14 December 2016.
  5. ^ Takahashi, Dean (30 October 2012). "King.com launches mobile game as part of strategy shift". Venture Beat. Archived from the original on 23 December 2016. Retrieved 14 December 2016.
  6. ^ Thompson, Mike (15 November 2012). "Candy Crush Saga goes mobile, Bubble Witch Saga is coming to Android and video ads now make up 15 percent of King.com's revenue". Adweek. Archived from the original on 22 December 2016. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
  7. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference blush was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Yeong, Ken (26 March 2013). "'Candy Crush' maker King.com releases two new Facebook games as it tops 108M monthly players". The Next Web. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 14 December 2016.
  9. ^ Rushton, Katherine (19 June 2013). "Games maker King.com eyes US flotation". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 22 December 2016. Retrieved 14 December 2016.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference ipo reuters was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference valued was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference sour was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference guardian who was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference guardian 2014 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ a b Dredge, Stuart (13 February 2015). "Candy Crush Saga players spent £865m on the game in 2014 alone". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 31 January 2017. Retrieved 15 December 2016 – via www.theguardian.com.
  16. ^ Jordan, Jon; Editor, Contributing (12 February 2015). "Expanding into new genres, King buys Z2Live for up to $150 million". pocketgamer.biz. Archived from the original on 6 March 2019. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
  17. ^ Cite error: The named reference usa today was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  18. ^ "Activision Blizzard Becomes "Largest Game Network in the World" With Candy Crush Dev Buyout". GameSpot. 23 February 2016. Archived from the original on 26 February 2016. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
  19. ^ a b c "Activision Blizzard Completes King Acquisition Becomes the Largest Game Network in the World with over 500 Million Users". Activision Blizzard. 23 February 2016. Archived from the original on 27 February 2016. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  20. ^ "Activision Blizzard Announces Agreement to Acquire King Digital Entertainment and Better-Than-Expected Third Quarter 2015 Financial Results". Activision Blizzard. 2 November 2015. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 3 March 2016.
  21. ^ a b Handrahan, Matthew (29 May 2019). "Riccardo Zacconi to step down as CEO of King". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on 29 August 2020. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  22. ^ Axon, Samuel (12 February 2019). "Activision-Blizzard lays off 775 people after "record results in 2018"". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on 12 February 2019. Retrieved 12 February 2019.
  23. ^ Valentine, Rebekah (28 August 2020). "Riccardo Zacconi departs King after 17 years". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on 30 August 2020. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  24. ^ Partis, Danielle (24 February 2022). "King exec Tjodolf Sommestad promoted to president". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
  25. ^ Phillips, Tom (June 7, 2021). "Candy Crush maker King investigated by PayPal over Royal Games site". Eurogamer. Retrieved October 22, 2021.
  26. ^ Phillips, Tom (October 22, 2021). "King games portal which birthed Candy Crush to close after 18 years". Eurogamer. Retrieved October 22, 2021.
  27. ^ "Mobile Game Developer King Acquires Artificial Intelligence Company Peltarion" (Press release). 13 June 2022.
  28. ^ Shaul, Brandy (11 June 2013). "King.com Dumps Advertising on its Games". Adweek. Archived from the original on 22 December 2016. Retrieved 14 December 2016.
  29. ^ a b Peterson, Tim (18 February 2014). "How Advertising Drove King.com's $500 Million IPO". Advertising Age. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 14 December 2016.
  30. ^ Kamen, Matt (6 January 2016). [https://www.theguardian.com/techn ! Status ! Description "Candy Crush Jelly Saga coming to Android, iOS, and Windows Store"]. Wired UK. Archived from the original on 8 January 2016. Retrieved 7 January 2016. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help); Text "Miner Speed" ignored (help); Text "Bubble Witch 2 Saga" ignored (help); Text "Candy Crush Soda Saga" ignored (help); Text "Diamond Digger Saga" ignored (help); Text "Farm Heroes Saga" ignored (help); Text "Papa Pear Saga" ignored (help); Text "Pepper Panic Saga" ignored (help); Text "-" ignored (help); Text "-" ignored (help); Text "-" ignored (help); Text "-" ignored (help); Text "-" ignored (help); Text "-" ignored (help); Text "2010" ignored (help); Text "2014" ignored (help); Text "A match-3 swapping tile game to collect hot peppers, where matches are based on both colour and size, and a successful match leaves behind a pepper of a larger size. It was based on King's flash game Pepper Panic." ignored (help); Text "A match-3 swapping tile game to collect various crops to meet each puzzle's quote. This is the first of the "Saga" based games by King to not be based on an existing flash game by the company." ignored (help); Text "A sequel to Bubble Witch Saga, following primarily the same gameplay mechanics but adding new level types." ignored (help); Text "A variation of Peggle where the player shoots projectiles onto a game board to clear various pegs and land the projectiles into scoring containers at the bottom of the game board. It is based on King's flash game Papa Pear. The game closed on January 14, 2022." ignored (help); Text "Another variation of SameGame, but where matching groups of same-coloured tiles clears out dirt and rock to create a route for water to flow between the level's entrance and exit. It was based on King's flash game Diamond Digger." ignored (help); Text "Available" ignored (help); Text "Available" ignored (help); Text "Availablejelly-saga-launch-android-ios" ignored (help); Text "Discontinued" ignored (help); Text "Discontinued" ignored (help); Text "Discontinued" ignored (help); Text "Discontinued" ignored (help); line feed character in |url= at position 34 (help)
  31. ^ Carter, Chris (15 August 2018). "The creators of Candy Crush's next project: Legend of Solgard, a Ragnarok themed RPG". Destructoid. Archived from the original on 24 January 2021. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  32. ^ Crecente, Brian (11 October 2018). "'Candy Crush Friends Saga': Biggest Game From King in Four Years". Forbes. Archived from the original on 20 October 2018. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  33. ^ Takahashi, Dean (March 13, 2019). "King launches Pet Rescue Puzzle Saga for iOS and Android". Venture Beat. Archived from the original on 8 August 2020. Retrieved March 13, 2019.
  34. ^ Cryer, Hirun (July 9, 2020). "After Many Leaks, Crash Bandicoot: On the Run is Revealed for Mobile". USGamer. Archived from the original on 11 July 2020. Retrieved July 9, 2020.
  35. ^ a b Geigner, Timothy (24 January 2014). "King Cries Trademark Over The Banner Saga". Archived from the original on 26 January 2014. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
  36. ^ Lien, Tracey (22 January 2014). "Stoic: Candy Crush creator is hindering Banner Saga sequel". Archived from the original on 24 January 2014. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
  37. ^ Lien, Tracey (17 April 2014). "Candy Crush maker King settles trademark disputes with The Banner Saga developer". Polygon. Vox Media. Archived from the original on 19 April 2014. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
  38. ^ Lien, Tracey (23 January 2014). "Indie developer accuses King of double standard, alleges game was cloned". Archived from the original on 24 January 2014. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
  39. ^ Geigner, Timothy (24 January 2014). "King denies cloning games, takes down Pac-Avoid". Archived from the original on 27 January 2014. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
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