The company behind Candy Crush Saga is reportedly considering an IPO. According to reports, Midasplayer International Holding Co., the game publisher also known as ‘King,’ has already been interviewing bankers.
King declined comment, which would have been necessary due to SEC “gun-jumping” rules. However, King’s CEO told reporters in 2012 that an IPO was a possibility in 2013.
Candy Crush Saga is so successful that King stopped using advertising as a revenue source. Since King is private, its revenue numbers are unknown at this time, but Supercell is reportedly earning $2.4 million per day with two high grossing games.
If King is printing (digital) money, why go public? The answer may lie with Apax Partners and Index Ventures, the VC’s who funded King’s $43 million Series A round in 2005. After eight years, they may be finally seeing enough success to prop up an IPO and secure their exit. After the disastrous Zynga IPO, a developer/publisher of casual mobile games may not otherwise be too excited to subject itself to the public scrutiny of being a public company.
I will discuss these issues and how they relate to game developers more in future blog posts.
As of this writing, Candy Crush Saga appears as the iTunes #3 Free Game and #1 Top Grossing game.