King Digital Entertainment, the company behind the incredibly popular game Candy Crush Saga, has filed for its initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange.
The company has applied to go under the trading name ‘KING’ and must be approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) before it can raise a potential US$500m by entering the stock exchange.
The company released its statement of intentions showcasing some impressive statistics about how it has become one of the biggest mobile gaming developers on the planet.
With more than 1bn plays of Candy Crush Saga each day in December last year, the company made profits of US$568m in 2013 and sees its entrance to the stock exchange as the next step in developing on from a gaming sector known as ‘casual gaming’ to one that’s considered as big as some of the more established gaming platforms, like Sony and Microsoft.
Aside from its top title to date, Candy Crush Saga, the company has produced more than180 games, many of which are of a similar child-friendly style, such as Pet Rescue, Farm Heroes and Bubble Witch.
In the space of a year, the company’s revenue grew by more than 30 times its value in 2012. simply off the success of Candy Crush Saga.
Its application for an IPO is not the first sign in recent months that the company is ensuring its dominance in the smartphone market. Last month, it took an unprecedented step by filing for a copyright claim on the name ‘candy’, meaning that any game in development with ‘candy’ in the title would either have to change it or face litigation.
