King has announced that its hit game Candy Crush Saga has exceeded a massive $20 billion in lifetime revenue in the wake of the company’s 20th anniversary.

"Reaching our 20th anniversary is a mark of the incredible passion and dedication of the entire King team to our mission of making the world playful," said King president Tjodolf Sommestad.

"As we turn our attention to the future we'll continue to strive to make our games the best they can possibly be and give players more of what they want. With a history of success and a bright future ahead, King looks forward to delivering many more years of fun gameplay and memorable moments for our players."

King’s title Candy Crush is one of the world’s most successful mobile games, and its success has put the company firmly at the centre of Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, with the company welcoming a huge 200 million monthly active players across its portfolio. The Candy Crush franchise alone has been downloaded more than five billion times, highlighting once again the remarkable success of the series and its place at the peak of the match-3 genre.

Continued investment in the franchise, including its most recent All-Stars Tournament and a short-lived game show, has helped to keep the game firmly in the spotlight, and King reports that the combined distance of swipes completed in Candy Crush over the last five years is almost equal to circumnavigating the globe seven times.

King of the mobile castle

Candy Crush celebrated its tenth anniversary in April, and the game will soon be releasing level 15,000 with the team’s newest designers given the honour of designing the landmark stage.

King credits its massive success to several factors, including not just the success of its games but the company’s dedication to creating a diverse culture which drives creativity. As a result, the company was recently named one of Newsweek’s Global Top 100 Most Loved Workplaces, and one of The Sunday Times list's Best Places to Work in the UK.

Looking forward, King is focused on harnessing the power of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, exploring how these innovations can improve the player experience and make gameplay and design more compelling, responsive, and adaptive.

We listed King parent company Activision Blizzard as one of the top 50 mobile game makers of 2023.