The Charticle

The Charticle: Is there more to King than just Candy Crush Saga?

A one hit wonder?

The Charticle: Is there more to King than just Candy Crush Saga?

Predictably, news that Candy Crush developer King has filed for a IPO of $500 million or morehas turned the eyes of the industry on the developer's business.

It's something King itself would appear to be acutely aware of, with rumours an original IPO was held back in September due to fears the company would be viewed as a 'one hit wonder' - a label that might scare off potential investors.

Indeed, with Candy Crush Saga currently accounting for over 70 percent of King's daily active user base, it would be fair to say that the company's other games haven't been anywhere near as notable as the candy smashing puzzler.

The IPO saga

So, is King right to worry that its business is viewed as being too reliant on just one title? Do the studio's other Saga series have as much to offer as the all-conquering Candy Crush?

Let's find out.

For the purposes of clarity, we've focused on a selection of King's big IP and their performance on the App Store in the US.

Candy Crush Saga's top grossing performance on the US iPhone top 50 chart - via App Annie

We'll get the obvious one out of the way first, shall we?

On the US top grossing chart for iPhone, Candy Crush Saga, has been utterly dominant since its launch in November 2012.

The game shot straight into the top 50, and it hasn't fallen out of the top 10 since 1 January 2013, having occupied the #1 spot for most of that time.

This is the benchmark.

Pet Rescue Saga's top grossing performance on the US iPhone top 50 chart - via App Annie

Pet Rescue Saga, which was released in June 2013, couldn't match that success - but that doesn't mean it hasn't been performing admirably.

The game broke into the top 50 on the US grossing chart for iPhone easily enough, and, despite a dip in performance towards the end of 2013, it has been spending a lot of time in the top 10, peaking at #4.

So far, so good.

Farm Heroes Saga's top grossing performance on the US iPhone top 50 chart - via App Annie

One of King's more recent offerings comes in the form of Farm Heroes Saga, which was released on 2 January 2014.

The game didn't have any trouble jumping straight into the top 50 on the US top grossing chart for iPhone, and, as we've seen time and time again, it rose steadily up the chart, breaking into the top 10 with ease, and peaking at #5.

Papa Pear Saga's top grossing performance on the US iPhone top 50 chart - via App Annie

Another one of King's new recruits, Papa Pear Saga, breaks the trend by being the first game in this Charticle that could be labelled 'unsuccessful'.

Released on 27 November 2013, the game took another month to break into the top 50, doing so on 29 December 2013.

Since dragging itself into the top 50, the game hasn't been able to break into the top 10 at all, and after peaking at #27 in mid-January, it has been losing ground, and now looks set to fall out of the top 50 altogether.

What does it all mean?

That's a good question, and fortunately for King, the answer is a good one. 

Despite having a few weak links in its roster - I'm looking at you Papa Pear Saga - the majority of King's games are apparently performing well. 

They look comfortable in the the grossing charts, sitting pretty in the promised land that is the top 10, and even though it's unlikely that any of them will match the success of Candy Crush Saga, they prove that King has more to it than meets the eye.

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What do you call someone who has an unhealthy obsession with video games and Sean Bean? That'd be a 'Chris Kerr'. Chris is one of those deluded souls who actually believes that one day Sean Bean will survive a movie. Poor guy.