'Candy Crush' maker sees up to $7.6 billion IPO valuation

All I can do is shake my head. Billions? For a waning product? Yeah I'm sure he sees billions...in his dreams.

Good luck. Doubt they'll get it, but you never know. I said that about Facebook too (I think...probably...can't remember). Who the hell invests all this money? What a whacked out world this is.

(Reuters) - King Digital Entertainment Plc, maker of hit mobile phone game "Candy Crush Saga", expects to be worth up to $7.6 billion when it goes public this month in the United States, amid concerns about its over reliance on the game.

Reuters

reply to post by ~Lucidity


Between games like candy crush and flappy bird, it's obvious there is a serious gold mine out there just waiting for the next goofy ass game to tap it. I worked on an indie title that was ported to mobile and it flopped big time. The market is so hit or miss, but when you hit, you can knock it WAY out of the park and set yourself up for life with very little investment. Case in point: Flappy Bird took 2 days to make, and ONE guy made it. He was making $50,000 a day just on add revenue when he finally shut it down (although he claimed the money and fame was "ruining his simple life", there are rumors that nintendo threatened him with a major lawsuit because of the fact he basically ripped off mario's art style).

I have some game development skills (mostly on the art side of things) but no programming or coding skills. Anyone want to get together and make the next big mobile game?

reply to post by ~Lucidity


I dont understand why young people like Mark Zuckerberg waste their time, money and energy on trying to achieve more than they already have.

I honestly wonder what the world would be like if these billionnaires invested in research and development of true tech advancement such as antigravity etc. I honestly believe that hoverboards or the health machine from Elysium are possible and achievable, but not when financial powerhouses of humanity is invested in Candy crush saga and the likes lol!

reply to post by combatmaster


I'm pretty sure if there was a technologically feasible way to build a hoverboard that just works off the earths gravity there would be a billion people lining up to give you money. You could easily crowd fund such a project on a site like kickstarter and if you actually had some sort of prototype or even a small scale working version (SOMETHING to show that it was possible), you'd be rolling in investment funds in no time.

People like frivolous stuff, so that is where the money is. Look at hollywood. It's all pointless mind numbing claptrap yet it rakes in billions of dollars every year. Normal people want stupid things to play with to pass the time. Governments want weapons. The cycle of life continues. Would I like to do some good if I was a billionaire? Definitely. I'd love the chance to change peoples lives for the better with a big pile of money. But I'd also be having some fun in my personal life too.

King Games made Candy Crush, and it's not their only app. Candy Crush alone (est.) pulls in ~million a day in revenue I believe though, and they are very pro at creating addictive games of chance, (and in their online apps, chance and user influenced).

They are a nightmare as far as morals and ethics go. Buying out a very old company with "Candy" in the title, just so they could bypass another person's earlier trademark and trademark "Candy", the other guy created a similar app before they did, and not only that, but they stole his designs (ripped off elements)!

"King has only has 665 employees and parcels development out to small, autonomous teams of designers working with a "startup" mentality. Last year, the company spent $110.5 million on research and development, roughly 6 percent of sales."[6]

en.wikipedia.org...(company)

This pegs the company's revenue around 1.8 Billion a year. Given that the company only has ~600 employees, and they only spend 6% for R&D, and the industry has rather low overhead. I'd say the evaluation is probably not that far off.

reply to post by boncho


Correct. It's not just the game but also the trademarks that they hold....which are numerous and they are very cut-throat when it comes to protecting them.

Here is an open letter to King by the developer of Candy Swipe (made before Candy Crush)

“I have spent over three years working on this game as an independent app developer. I learned how to code on my own after my mother passed and CandySwipe was my first and most successful game; it’s my livelihood, and you are now attempting to take that away from me. You have taken away the possibility of CandySwipe blossoming into what it has the potential of becoming. I have been quiet, not to exploit the situation, hoping that both sides could agree on a peaceful resolution. However, your move to buy a trademark for the sole purpose of getting away with infringing on the CandySwipe trademark and goodwill just sickens me.”

www.forbes.com...

It looks like the letter made an impact:

www.candyswipe.com...

His page that used to host it now says:

Update: Feb. 22 2014
Wow! Thank you everyone for the overwhelming support over the last week. It means so much. Never expected this kind of response. -Albert

King Crush(ing) Indie Developers Saga.

A good read on their tactics... and history.

I dont understand why young people like Mark Zuckerberg waste their time, money and energy on trying to achieve more than they already have.

ever seen the inner-lining of his special jacket?

Honestly when you create a game: it can be anyones game.

The game of money is constantly tested and tried. Sometimes people find a way to make a profit under simple means. Nothing more.

The Candy crush stuff seems more like an exploit to me. I am drunk right now so excuse my rudeness.

I have idea for a game ! Its called Flappy Crush. The game is like Candy Crush, Flappy bird and Tetris combined. You crush eggs , blocks fall from the sky and you have a birds that you need to protect. Only 300+ levels

I don't get how people can play this game...

reply to post by wearethebest


Me either, it is completely boring. King could close up shop and never make a game again for all I care