Sneak Peek
King's Candy Crush Blast is now available in soft launch
The game is currently available on Android in the Philippines
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
Riccardo Zacconi
CEO
Sebastian Knutsson
Chief Creative Officer
Therese Sander
lead level designer on Candy Crush Saga
Alena Rybik
Senior Product Director
Mick Heijkens
Senior Game Designer
Kiki Olofsson
Senior Studio Art Director
Tobi Ibikunle
Software Engineer
Oleg Pridiuk
Evangelist, Defold
Todd Green
Candy Crush franchise general manager
Jay Foreman
Level Design Craft Lead
Andrea Serfaty
Principal UX Designer
Roberto Kusabbi
Candy Crush Senior Director, Product Marketing
Luke Jackson
Product Manager, Candy Crush
Dominique Devoucoux
Head of Audio
Paula Ingvar
GM, Candy Crush Saga
Vanesa Tate
Head of Eternal Games and Audio
Mark Taylor
Chief People Office
Catt Mott
Senior Narrative Lead
Marta Cortinas
Executive producer
Trevor Burrows
VP of Farm Heroes Saga
Brian Burford
GM, Candy Crush Soda Saga
Tjodolf Sommestad
President
Luken Aragon
VP of Marketing
Frances Light
Global Director, Diversity and Inclusion
Abigail Rindo
VP of creative
Ben Hollis
Lead Game Designer
Sian Finnis
Senior Director of Marketing Studio
Anna Busquet
Business Director of New Games
+25 more
Accolades
Articles featuring King
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
Swedish Games Industry
Swedish Games Companies contributed $5.8bn to the global economy, national report reveals
The majority of the country’s game makers are solo operations
Candy Crush
Candy Crush celebrates 10 year anniversary by hosting a superstar exclusive
Players will have 24-hour exclusive access to Meghan Trainor's new music video debut
Charity Event
One Special Day charity event supports gamers with disabilities
The fundraising event will see multiple games industry companies raising money for the the cause with their video game titles.
The Science Of Stories
GameAnalytics on the importance of Narrative design
Why is gaming unique among art forms?
Interview
Abigail Rindo: Every game is a different problem to solve narratively and creatively
We spoke to King's narrative design director Abigail Rindo about Candy Crush Saga
Cloud Gaming
Benjy Boxer: I think games need to be designed around the idea that people are playing it from the cloud
Parsec's general manager on the future of cloud gaming
Microsoft Acquisition
Phil Spencer: "I'm always thinking about things that add to our capability"
Microsoft Gaming's CEO discussed the Activision Blizzard acquisition with Bloomberg
Mobile Dominance
Mobile games more profitable than console AND PC combined, reports Activision Blizzard
Latest financial report shows Call of Duty Mobile, Diablo Immortal and Candy Crush central to $1.64
billion Q2 revenue
A Strong Quarter For Mid-core Titles
The highest-grossing mobile games of the quarter revealed
A new study examines the mid-core, casino, and casual markets
A History Of Success
Supercell and King share war stories from the decade of Clash of Clans and Candy Crush
Ilkka Paananen and Sebastian Knutsson discuss their divergent paths, early days of Facebook Gaming, and Apple's hold on a title's success
Invest In Ai
Candy Crush creator King acquires AI software company Peltarion
Activision Blizzard subsidiary aims to become a ‘game AI hub’ in the gaming industry
King Moves
King’s Diversity Space Tool to be utilised across Activision Blizzard by Q3 2022
Tool to prevent unconscious bias in game character roster will now be used in Call of Duty and Overwatch 2 teams
Do Not Activate
Activision Blizzard Q1 financial results reveal substantial decline
“Robust growth at King” unable to offset the considerable $500 million difference in revenue between Q1 2021 and 2022
Cashing In
Don’t underestimate the fundamental importance of game economy, urges King's Javier Barnes
King F2P specialist argues the "quite cryptic" principles of game economy are integral to ensuring the most of player engagement
Gdc
GDC: How King tells a story with UX
Abigail Rindo, lead narrative designer at King, discusses best practice in user experience design and player-centric game narrative to enhance storytelling.
Gdc
GDC: The F2P game design challenge, designing for minnows
Designers from King, Double Loop, and others meet this year’s GDC F2P challenge: designing for minnow, rather than whales
New Leadership
Tjodolf Sommestad becomes new president of King
Co-founder Sebastian Knutsson stepping down from CCO role
Predictions
Mobile Mavens: expert predictions for the future of the mobile games industry
Web3, more acquisitions, and new working models