By February 2014, 144 million people a day were playing King's games, more than 1.4 billion times a day. Most of them were swapping striped candies in Candy Crush Saga on a phone. The games were free. King made its money from the small share of players who paid for extra lives and boosters when a level got hard. When it filed to list in New York, investors had to decide whether King was a lasting studio or a company riding one hit.

A Hundred Games, One Hit

Riccardo Zacconi, an Italian who had sold online ads for a dating site, started King in 2003 with Sebastian Knutsson, a Swedish product designer, and a small team. For years King built quick skill games for its own website. The method was to launch many games, watch which ones people kept playing, and drop the rest. Candy Crush began as a web game, moved to Facebook, and then took off on phones.

A Crown for Activision

King priced its IPO at $22.50 a share in March 2014 and listed on the New York Stock Exchange as KING. The stock fell below its offer price on day one, as investors worried about relying on a single game. King kept Candy Crush near the top of the app charts and added sequels. In February 2016 Activision Blizzard bought King for $5.9 billion. Microsoft then bought Activision Blizzard in 2023, and King came with it.

Cover: The Village Sweet Shop, James McNeill Whistler. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a village sweet shop (Candy Crush).