The gaming community may be abuzz about Epic’s Fortnite on mobile, but King’s Candy Crush Saga and Candy Crush Soda Saga continue to satisfy players’ sweet tooth — and parent company Activision Blizzard’s bank account. The company said today in its earnings report that King’s revenue hit its highest mark ever in Q1 of 2018.
Candy Crush Saga was King’s highest earner, with Candy Crush Soda Saga coming in second place. Both are older games — the former launched in 2012 and the latter in 2014 — but their popularity persists. Over all its titles, King attracted 285 million monthly active users, and its players are still reaching for their wallets. In 2017, Candy Crush Saga was the top grossing mobile game in the U.S., according to market analyst Sensor Tower.
King has kept its existing player base satiated by releasing a steady drip of new content. In an interview with GamesBeat, King CEO Riccardo Zacconi said that Candy Crush Saga gets a new level every two weeks. It also features limited-time events to encourage people to open the game every day.
The games market is predicted to hit $137.9 billion this year, and $70.3 billion of that will be from mobile titles. Viral successes like Fortnite are certainly contributing to that number, but don’t count older hits like Candy Crush Saga out.
