Earlier this month we reported that GungHo Online’s mobile sensation Puzzle & Dragons was the first mobile game to gross more than $1 billion in turnover.
If you thought that was impressive, get ready to throw up in your mouth just a bit when you hear what commuter/bored housewife favourite Candy Crush Saga made in 2013.
King, the game’s developer, have released financial reports showing that their pay-to-play Bejeweled knockoff grossed $1.8 billion last year. Good lord.
For comparison, that’s 85% of Nintendo’s last reported annual gross sales for software. That’s right – your mum’s favourite iPad game grossed almost as much as every Super Mario and pals title combined.
What’s more, the Candy Crush’s daily active play count of 93 million is seventeen times as many as on the PlayStation 4. It’s also the equivalent of the populations of Australia, Canada and Spain put together. For all those conspiracy nuts out there terrified of a future where pay-to-play controls the gaming landscape, this is compelling evidence of Soylent Green-like proportions.
This is fantastic news for King ahead of their much talked about upcoming IPO, but will it be enough to convince investors?