Looking Back
A brief history of the mobile games industry
We take a look back at the last decade and a half of mobile gaming, analysing the key trends that built the industry we have now, and what the future holds for the sector
Company Profile
King
Website www.king.com
About
King is a leading interactive entertainment company for the mobile world, with people all around the world playing one or more of our games. We have developed more than 200 fun titles, offering games that are enjoyed all around the world.
Related People
Sabrina Carmona
Producer
Ben Hollis
Lead Game Designer
Riccardo Zacconi
CEO
Sebastian Knutsson
Chief Creative Officer
Jay Foreman
Level Design Craft Lead
Tjodolf Sommestad
President
Kiki Olofsson
Senior Studio Art Director
Oleg Pridiuk
Evangelist, Defold
Luke Jackson
Product Manager, Candy Crush
Mark Taylor
Chief People Office
Luken Aragon
VP of Marketing
Vanesa Tate
Head of Eternal Games and Audio
Paula Ingvar
VP of product for Candy Crush Soda
Frances Light
Global Director, Diversity and Inclusion
+11 more
Accolades
Articles featuring King
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Advancing Ai
King’s head of AI/ML Luka Crnkovic-Friis: "The changes are immense, fundamental, and very hard to predict"
Luka Crnkovic-Friis’ work in AI has been utilised by Harvard, NASA, and now it's behind the scenes at King
King Of Candy
King and Flexion partner to bring Candy Crush Saga to App Gallery and more alternative app stores
After record financials and a deal with Scopely, Flexion adds another major mobile win to its distribution portfolio
Loads Of Layoffs
More Xbox cutbacks hit ZeniMax with only Microsoft’s mobile ventures now unscathed
Microsoft’s Alpha Dog, Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, and ZeniMax have all been impacted this week
Hot Five
Hot Five: Supercell’s Squad Busters supremacy, Brawl Stars bounces back, and a games industry journey at King
Our quick-fix roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
Week That Was
Week in Views - Apple back themselves bigstyle, Clash bags Haaland and dreams come true at King
The Pocketgamer.biz team pick their highlights from the headlines this week and deliver the stories behind the stories
A Soda Saga
King’s Paula Ingvar: a games industry journey from "I’m not worthy!" to Candy Crush Soda’s VP of product
Paula Ingvar moved from traffic engineering to the games industry following encouragement from friends and has "only ever found it stimulating"
Art Ascends
King’s Trevor Burrows on the power of art: "We could see our numbers literally dropping"
Farm Heroes Saga has a willingness to experiment but importantly listens to its fans so taking a U-turn back from a "fresh, more contemporary art style" proved to be a smart move
King Of King
Tjodolf Sommestad talks AI, tips for indie devs, and a day in the life of King's president
It's all about "collaboration, curiosity, and transparency." Plus plenty of data-driven decisions
Crushing It
AI joins the team at King: "Our challenge is to create the right amount of challenge"
A day at King: Using AI in harmony with experts to craft evergreen games with the perfect balance
Industry Journey
“I’m proud of what we do at King but I’m even prouder of how we do things”
King’s VP of product for Candy Crush Soda Paula Ingvar shares on turning a hobby into a profession
Hot Five
Hot Five: GDC highlights, Tencent’s strategy shift, and Candy Crush’s biggest tournament yet
Our quick-fix roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
Big Bucks
King’s Candy Crush All Stars tournament is back and bigger than ever with a $1 million prize pot
King’s VP of marketing for Candy Crush Saga, Luken Aragon shares how the All Stars tournament came to be and what it means for the continued Candy Crush legacy
King Calls
King appoints ex-TomTom and Zalando exec Eric Bowman as CTO
Steve Colins steps down from the role to explore AI and return to investment world
Hot Five
Hot Five: Candy Crush’s latest game, Apple fights Epic and the DMA, and InnoGames salaries revealed
Our quick-fix roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
King On Track
Unlocking the secrets of game development: King takes centre stage at PG Connects San Francisco
The team behind Farm Heroes Saga pull back the curtain on King's decade of dominance as a track sponsor at the leading mobile b2b conference
Candy For Canada
Candy Crush Solitaire soft launches in Canada
King’s Candy Crush Solitaire is available now in Canada, following a beta in July 2023
Pgc London
King’s senior UX writer Greta Septinia talks conversion and "actionable microcopy" in Candy Crush
At PGC London, Greta Septinia discusses content design at King
Sneak Peek
King's Candy Crush Blast is now available in soft launch
The game is currently available on Android in the Philippines
Monopoly Go, Go, Go!
Monopoly GO! topped 2023 download AND revenue charts in the US
Sensor Tower reveals the top performers of 2023, from mainstays like Pokémon Go to fresh contenders like Block Blast
Who's At The Show
A masterclass in gaming excellence: Gain insights from industry titans this month
Sharing knowledge and inspiring success: Learn from the masters at Pocket Gamer Connects London 2024, the premier gaming event of the year!
Hot Five
Hot Five: Activision Blizzard’s app store alternative, Google Play’s download dominance and a 3D Candy Crush
Our quick-fix roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
Week That Was
Week in Views - What caught our eyes in the last seven days
The Pocketgamer.biz team take their pick of this weeks big news, including a major milestone for hybridcasual, the Candy Crush crown and when digital giants have a change of heart…
Candy Crown
King soft launch Candy Crush 3D: Is their next crowning victory on its way?
King stealthily reveals Candy Crush 3D on the Google Play Store
Reigning Revenue Raisers
Top 10 highest-grossing mobile games of all time
From Candy Crush and Clash of Clans to Pokémon and Lineage M
Crushing The Competition
Candy Crush celebrates massive $20 billion revenue milestone
Games in the franchise have been downloaded more than five billion times
King Of King
Five trillion levels later… Celebrating 20 years of King and 10 years of Candy Crush
We catch up with King’s president Tjodolf Sommestad for their state of play, their possible place under Microsoft’s wing and where he's at in his quest to ‘make the world more playful’
Unity Runtime Fee
Unity's biggest games: The big names who'll pay the biggest bucks
With an 70% of developers using Unity, it's the power behind the throne for thousands of much-loved titles including smash hits that keep some of gaming's biggest names afloat
Acquiblizz
Microsoft’s Phil Spencer stresses the importance of mobile in Xbox’s future success
The Xbox boss claims that Xbox needs mobile presence to thrive
Monopoly Money
The biggest gaming acquisitions of all time
From Activision Blizzard and Zynga to Bethesda and Playdemic
Success In Funding
Play Ventures’ Fund I sees 1.5x return in less than four years
The fund has 20 titles in its portfolio
Mobile Masterworks
Mobile Masterworks: Candy Crush
The iconic match3 game single-handedly helped popularise the genre
Financials
King celebrates 9% year-on-year increase in net revenue
Candy Crush remains the company's top performer, being the USA's top-grossing title for the 24th consecutive quarter
Acuiblizz
FTC to appeal against the judge’s decision in Microsoft case
A San Francisco judge denied the regulatory body’s preliminary injunction against Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard
Goliath Games
June’s three most lucrative mobile games all came from China
Sensor Tower reports on the 10 biggest revenue generators worldwide
Q&a
King's Vanesa Tate on re-crafting the soundtrack to Candy Crush Saga
After a decade of Candy Crush the team decided to revamp its soundtrack. But with a game this popular any changes required an expert touch
Q&a
King's Luken Aragon talks 10 years of keeping Candy Crush on top
Their 10 Years of Fun campaign recently reasserted Candy Crush's dominance and won our best marketing/PR award at the MGAs
Q&a
Pride Month 2023: How diversity and creativity go hand in hand at King
King's Sabrina Carmona, Head of Farm Heroes Saga outlines how they promote diversity and inclusivity throughout their gaming portfolio
Collaborations
Jonas Brothers premier new music in Candy Crush Saga
Bypassing traditional routes to market, the musicians will be previewing their new album exclusively within the smash hit mobile game
Candy Crush The Competition
Candy Crush Saga breaks records with All Stars Tournament
The upcoming tournament will have the biggest prize pot in casual mobile gaming history
Track Rundown
Explore how we can improve the games industry culture at Pocket Gamer Connects London
Enjoy an exclusive look at the upcoming themes and content tracks of our upcoming event, with today’s spotlight being games industry culture
Shuttering
Crash Bandicoot: On the Run, to shutter in 2023
The endless runner spin-off from the iconic Crash Bandicoot franchise will close it’s servers on February 16th
Privacy In Gaming
King takes a new approach to privacy notices in its new update
The new creative approach aims to tackle the issue of uninformed users
Women In Games
Vanesa Tate, Head of Audio at King, talks to us about the transition from movies to games
Having recently helped to makeover the sound for Candy Crush, Tate gives her insights on being a female in the industry and why games are more inclusive than films
Representation
King leads the pack in Activision-Blizzard's 2022 representation report
Activision-Blizzard’s latest effort to be more transparent reveals information about their representation and diversity in the workplace, with mobile arm King coming out on top
Views Week
Week in Views - What caught our editorial eyes in the last seven days
The PocketGamer.biz team reflect on a week of hot new games, success stories and legal worries…
Interview
Tjodolf Sommestad, President of King talks about the importance of teamwork to Candy Crush's huge success
"It is critical to create that culture which is creative, where we continue to be curious"
Interview
Todd Green, GM of Candy Crush at King, on the importance of player feedback to the game's decade long success
"We’ll have no shortage of good ideas from inside the team but also outside the team from millions of players."
Anniversaries
Candy Crush Saga on its 10th Anniversary: New features and over three billion downloads
Candy Crush Saga, one of the earliest examples of worldwide success in smartphone games, celebrates its ten-year anniversary today with some interesting numbers and new features
Activision Blizzard Financials
Activision Blizzard reveals its third quarter financials, with mobile now accounting for 52% of the gaming giant's net revenue
Candy Crush Saga is the top grossing game on US App Stores for the 21st quarter running