King

King (formerly/also known as King.com) is a casual-social games company, and the second largest game developer on Facebook. King develops games for the web on major mobile platforms and on Facebook. See the Wikipedia page for more info.

King is best known for Candy Crush Saga, which surpassed Zynga's Farmville 2 as the most popular game on Facebook since March 2013. It held records for being the most downloaded app across both iOS and Android.

King games offer synchronised play, enabling users to connect to their Facebook account whilst playing on their smartphone or tablet device. This means that the users progress is updated across all platforms, allowing the player to switch from mobile, to tablet, to Facebook without losing their progress in the game.

The popularity of Candy Crush Saga[]

King's most popular game to date is Candy Crush Saga, which was launched on Facebook in April 2012. Following its success on Facebook, King launched Candy Crush Saga on mobile (iOS and Android) in November 2012. The game was downloaded over 10 million times one month after its release. In January 2013, Candy Crush Saga became the No.1 game on Facebook, and reached 45 million monthly users by March of the same year.

Hundreds of millions of players still play this game up to this date.

Other games[]

The original site where King games are played was now RoyalGames.com. Many of these games are arcade-style games requiring small real-life purchases per round. Top players will get a real-life prize payout. One of the games released there was the original Candy Crush.

King is well known for creating the Saga series of games available to play on Flash and Mobile, where players complete hundreds of levels on the map, which is divided into episodes. New elements and features will show up as the player progresses through the game. The player can sync their mobile progress to Facebook, providing some form of social element.. King's first Saga game was Bubble Saga, a unique bubble-shooter with rotating bubbles. Bubble Witch Saga was King's first major mobile game, released in July 2012 after its successful launch on Facebook in September 2011.

Other games from King include Candy Crush Soda Saga, Candy Crush Jelly Saga, Farm Heroes Saga, Bubble Witch 2 Saga, Pet Rescue Saga, &c. There has been several closures of well-known games including the first Bubble Witch Saga, especially after the EOL of Flash. King formerly had a catalogue of over 150 games available in over 14 languages, releasing new games every month.

After a lengthy investigation by Paypal, Royal Games has closed all games as of 2021 December 07, after 18 years of operation. The site is still live at the time of Candy Cup.

On 2022 March 31st, King.com can no longer be used to play games.

Operations[]

King has offices or game studios in:

Barcelona, Spain
Berlin, Germany
Bucharest, Romania
Chicago, Illinois, United States
London, England, United Kingdom
Los Angeles, California, United States
Malmö, Sweden
New York City, New York, United States
San Francisco, California, United States
Seattle, Washington, United States
Stockholm, Sweden
Tokyo, Japan
Valletta, Malta

At the time Candy Crush Saga broke records, King is a private company with more than $47 million in venture investment from Apax Partners and Index Ventures. King has completed its IPO on 2014, before being acquired as the third subsidiary of Activition Blizzard.

Games[]

Candy Crush series[]

Vibrant[]

Farm Heroes Saga
Bubble Witch 3 Saga
Pet Rescue Saga
Blossom Blast Saga
Crash On the Run! (no longer available in 2023)

At Risk[]

These games have relegated in importance. On 2022 March 31, these games can no longer be played on FB.^[1]

Bubble Witch 2 Saga (no longer available on FB site)
Pyramid Solitaire Saga
Diamond Diaries Saga
Farm Heroes Super Saga

Others[]

King Pro Challenge
Legend of Solgard (now by Snowprint Studios)
Knighthood (now by Midoki)

Defunct[]

Miner Speed (†September 10, 2013)
Bubble Saga (†September 10, 2013)
Hoop de Loop Saga (†September 10, 2013)
Puzzle Saga (†September 10, 2013)
Paradise Bay (2019 May 17)
Bubble Witch Saga (L510, 2014 June 03 – †EOL of Flash)
Pepper Panic Saga (L460, 2014 October 29 – †EOL of Flash)
Scrubby Dubby Saga (†EOL of Flash)
Shuffle Cats (†EOL of Flash)
Pet Rescue Puzzle Saga (†EOL of Flash)
AlphaBetty Saga (L920, †2021 December 15)
Papa Pear Saga (L1080, †2022 January 14)
Diamond Digger Saga (L2210, †2022 January 14)
All legacy games on RoyalGames.com (7 December 2021)

Soft-released and Cancelled[]

Many of these games were effectively in development hell, and never got an official release.

Monster Fever
Luna Light Saga
Are You Serious?
Hero
Rise of Tyrants
Pepper Panic Plus Saga
Candy Crush Tales
Candy Crush Cubes
Candy Crush Solitaire
Candy Crush 3D
Candy Crush: Blast!

Awards[]

Fastest-Growing UK Company - in Media Momentum Digital Awards
Best Social Game - Candy Crush Saga Wins the International Mobile Gaming Award's 2013 Award
Bubble Witch Saga was named winner of a Gold Stevie® Award in the Games category, at The 9th Annual International Business Awards 2012