But whether it continues to retain users, and King's new offerings are successful, remains to be seen.

It will also release sequels to Candy Crush and its 'Bubble Witch Saga' game.įarm Heroes Saga, which debuted on mobile devices in January, has quickly become one of the top-10 grossing games on Apple's and Google's app stores.

King plans to launch new titles in the second half of the year, including a version of Candy Crush for the Chinese market this summer. 'You can have hits and once they start declining, they decline in a very fast spurt,' Bhatia said. Investors have long warned about the fickle nature of the mobile gaming industry, where titles can race to the top of app-downloads charts but go downhill just as quickly. 'What matters is if each quarter, the rate of growth of their other games offsets the rate of decline in Candy Crush and they are diversifying and they are no longer a one-hit wonder,' Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, said. If it fails to cultivate a suite of hits beyond its marquee title, King may be unable to dodge the fate of 'Farmville' maker Zynga Inc and 'Angry Birds' developer Rovio Corp, which are both struggling to retain players. 'All the pressure is on the new games and there's no guarantee they will be sustainably successful.' 'But if you are looking at the glass half empty, you'd say their core flagship is declining really fast,' Bhatia said. if you are looking at it glass half full,' he said. The stock has not approached its IPO price of $22.50 since it began trading in March.Īrvind Bhatia, an analyst with Sterne Agee, said Candy Crush was fading sooner than expected. King's shares dropped to $16.25 in late afternoon trading. On a call with analysts, executives said the company incurred expenses in marketing its new 'Farm Heroes Saga' game in the first quarter. Moreover, King's net profit of $127 million, was up from $53 million a year ago, but slipped 20 percent from $159 million in the previous quarter. And though revenue from in-game purchases was up, monthly unique payers - gamers who actually spend money in King's titles - dropped to 11.9 million from 12.2 million in the previous quarter. Total gross bookings rose just 1 percent from the fourth quarter 2013.

Candy crush maker