Last quarter, maturing of Candy Crush Saga resulted in lower numbers for King Digital Entertainment (King). The company reported revenue in the quarter ended September 30, 2015 (Q3-2015, current quarter) at $479.71 million, a 6.7 per cent Y-o-Y drop from $514.35 million. The company says that the decreases in both gross bookings and revenue were primarily driven by its largest franchise, Candy Crush, as it continues to mature.
King CEO Riccardo Zacconi said, “Our third quarter 2015 gross bookings exceeded the high end of our guidance range, and for the third consecutive quarter Candy Crush Saga and Candy Crush Soda Saga ranked within the top 5 grossing games in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store in US. These results reflect our continued execution of our franchise strategy and the longevity of our brands. We are also pleased to have recently launched Blossom Blast Saga, our first game with a linker mechanic, and look forward to introducing this new game play to players around the globe.”
Zacconi added, “We are excited about the transaction with Activision Blizzard. We believe the transaction will position us very well for the next phase of our company’s evolution and will bring clear benefits to our players and employees, while providing a return to our shareholders through the share price premium and the immediate liquidity it will provide to all shareholders upon completion.”
Gross bookings declined 7.7 per cent to $502 million in Q3-2015 from $544 million in Q3-2014. While gross booking from mobile declined marginally in the current quarter to $414 million as compared to $417 million in Q3-2014, Y-o-Y web bookings declined sharply Y-o-Y by 31.5 per cent to $87 million as compared to $127 million in Q3-2014. Gross bookings from non-Candy Crush Saga 2 titles increased 14 per cent Y-o-Y to $301 million, or 60 per cent of total gross bookings in Q3-2015.
King’s Profit was US$ 123 million for Q3- 2015, increasing by $1 million compared to Q3-2014. The increase was primarily due to change in deferred revenue, acquisition-related benefit, lower income tax expense and lower share-based and other equity-related compensation expenses, which were partially offset by lower adjusted EBITDA and foreign exchange gain.
MAUs (monthly average users) have again fallen from 501 million in Q2-2015, to 474 million this quarter. DAUs (daily average users) too have dwindling numbers as they were down to 133 million from 142 million in Q2-2015.
MUUs (monthly unique users) were at 330 million, down from 340 million in Q3-2015 from Q1-2015, and down 18 million from Q2-2014. The sequential decrease in MUUs was reflected in both web and mobile, but at a greater rate of decline on web, which the company believes is due to a continuing decline in overall Facebook desktop users.