We haven’t given King.com its fair share of news articles despite how big they are on Facebook – today they’ve grown to become the third largest developer after Zynga and Microsoft. The company was founded in Stockholm in 2003, but in the past year they’ve shifted from casual tournament games on the web to offering social games on Facebook. In a recent article in SvD Näringsliv, CEO Riccardo Zacconi spoke about their current traction and growth.
Perhaps one reason we haven’t thought about King.com in a while is because we’re not in their 25-55 year old woman demographic, which accounts for 75% of their players. Their franchise title, Candy Crush Saga, offers puzzles similar to Sudoku. 15 million people play King.com games every day, including 60 million monthly uniques.
So far King.com has launched seven games on Facebook – with the goal that the 150+ games it offers on its own portal will be available on Facebook. To fuel this growth, in 2013 the company says it will need to employ a person a day, in order to grow to over 600 employees. To add to the complexity, King.com also began developing for smartphones this summer.
But this drive for more games and platforms isn’t due to some scrape for cash, currently the company is profitable and in 2013 King.com may consider an IPO. King.com is a portfolio company of Apax Partners and Index Ventures.
Regardless, King.com is a company we’ll have to watch closer.
