Is Candy Crush Running Out of Steam?
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Candy Crush is undoubtedly one of the most famous mobile games ever in existence. Every mom has heard of it and many even have it on their iPads. It's that well-known.
All the popularity means the casual title that rolled out 11 years ago is making a lot of money. Since 2020, Candy Crush's revenue has been on the rise, but 2023 has been a much more challenging year for the game.
In the last five months, revenue has been dropping month after month. That's a trend Candy Crush hasn't seen even once since 2020.
I analyzed the title's month-over-month growth and looking at the trend, it's very clear revenue has been growing consistently for years! The longest stretch of consistent month-over-month revenue drop was three months, all the way back in 2023, right when Covid hit and most countries went into lockdown. So, that's understandable.
Almost every stretch we look at since is green, meaning revenue has been growing.
In the last 5 months, between April and August, it's all red. Our estimates show that net revenue dropped from $99.5M in April to $69M in August. And that's all net, which means what King gets to keep after giving Apple and Google their fees. I expected the opposite during the summer.
Candy Crush has been a staple in the most downloaded and highest-earning apps and games series we publish monthly, and the drop has already been noticed.
It's amazing to see a title succeed for so long, so I understand and expect revenue to eventually drop. I wonder if this is the beginning of the end or if it's just a temporary dip.
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All figures included in this report are estimated. Unless specified otherwise, estimated revenue is always net, meaning it's the amount the developer earned after Apple and Google took their fee.
