Candy Crush creator King Digital Entertainment sees revenue fall seven per cent in third quarter
Revenue for King Digital Entertainment has taken a knock for its third quarter results, revealed today, dropping seven per cent to $480m (£312m), compared to $514m for the same period in 2014.
The mobile phone games developer highlighted falling sales in its popular Candy Crush franchise as one of the reasons behind the drop in earnings, although sales for newer games in the brand, such as Candy Crush Soda Saga, had been stronger.
“Our third quarter 2015 gross bookings exceeded the high end of our guidance range, and for the third consecutive quarter Candy Crush Saga and Candy Crush Soda Saga ranked within the top five grossing games in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store in the US,” said Riccardo Zacconi, chief executive of King.
He continued: “These results reflect our continued execution of our franchise strategy and the longevity of our brands. We are also pleased to have recently launched Blossom Blast Saga, our first game with a linker mechanic, and look forward to introducing this new game play to players around the globe.”
Just yesterday, King announced that it had been bought by US gaming giant Activision Blizzard, whose titles include the Call of Duty and the World of Warcraft franchises.
“We are excited about the transaction with Activision Blizzard,” said Zacconi. “We believe the transaction will position us very well for the next phase of our company's evolution and will bring clear benefits to our players and employees, while providing a return to our shareholders through the share price premium and the immediate liquidity it will provide to all shareholders upon completion.”
The market reacted modestly to the results, with share prices hitting an after hours trading high of $17.81, up 0.3 per cent from market close of $17.76.