King Digital Entertainment and the mobile game saga

If you've played Candy Crush Saga or Bubble Witch on your mobile, then you've used products marketed by King Digital Entertainment. Days ago, the company agreed to be acquired by Activision Blizzard, which makes popular console games like Call of Duty and World of Warcraft.

The combined company will have a customer base of 500 million users worldwide, making it a formidable marketing force in the world of digital games. The combination also allows the company to serve customers on multiple platforms (game consoles, computers, tablets and mobiles).

King's freemium marketing strategy (meaning fees for special features or powers) drove the company through a period of aggressive growth, including significant expansion into Asian markets. Its megahit game Candy Crush was released in 2012 and is still responsible for much of the firm's profitability.

However, mobile games are becoming an increasingly competitive space. Nintendo is finally going to release its first mobile game in 2016, called Mii Friends. As with competing games, Mii Friends will be freemium-priced. Meanwhile, Zynga (known for its once-ubiquitous FarmVille game and Words with Friends) is looking for its next megahit game and facing product launch delays.

King and Activision combined should have more marketing power in mobile games, where much of the growth in game-playing takes place. In-app payments for special powers or widgets are growing, and the firms see a lot of revenue potential from users eager to advance to higher levels and new challenges. Although freemium pricing has its critics, the strategy does allow users flexibility and choices about what they want to spend and when--if they choose to spend on mobile games at all.

Marketing Social Games

King and Zynga are two of the biggest social game companies in the world, serving hundreds of millions of players every day who log on via computer, mobile or tablet.

If you've played FarmVille, CityVille, Words with Friends or Bubble Safari, you've played Zynga's social games, online or on Facebook (where Zynga has 3.5 million likes). Freemium pricing is the name of the game, with special items available for purchase to help players move ahead. Of course, it's the games that count, which is why Farmville's Facebook page has more than 39 million likes.

Zynga just reported a loss and has purchased the UK game company NaturalMotion to expand its game offerings and provide variety for players. The company is also testing Bitcoin payments.

If you've played Candy Crush Saga, Farm Heroes Saga, Papa Pear Saga or Bubble Witch Saga, you've played King's games, again online or on Facebook. Candy Crush Saga, the best-known and most popular, has 60 million Facebook likes. King uses the freemium pricing model, allowing you to buy hints and extra levels after you get involved in the free game.

Then there's Minecraft, a super-popular multiplayer game that has tens of millions of players. The Minecraft Facebook page has 8.5 million likes.

Social games remain extremely popular. In fact, Minecraft and Candy Crush Saga were the top apps in the UK Apple Store in 2013.

But don't forget Angry Birds, which is relentlessly expanding beyond the virtual world. Angry Birds Land will open at Thorpe Park this May. In 2016, Sony is planning to release the first Angry Birds movie. Today being Chinese New Year, Angry Birds is celebrating with a new music video on the Rovio site.

Social games go mobile

What game is this? And who markets it?

  |
  |
  |
  |
  |

It's Candy Crush Saga, but you knew that. And if you look carefully at the upper left corner, you can see that King.com is the marketer.

In a very short time, Candy Crush Saga will be available to play on mobile devices. Bubble Witch Saga is already available for iPhones and iPads. Bubble Witch Saga is also available for Kindle Fire and King.com is thinking about broader use on Android platforms.

Mobile could make all the difference in King.com's future. Why? Because King.com is looking to challenge market leader Zynga, the company behind FarmVille, Words with Friends and other Facebook-based games.

Players have been spending less within Zynga's Facebook games in recent months, while King.com's revenues have been increasing. Zynga has experienced changes in top management and reduced its workforce as it works on a new strategy to restore rapid growth.

Meanwhile, Facebook indicates that more than half of its users log on from mobile devices. As a result, if a Facebook-based game isn't available for mobile use, users can't play as often (and that affects revenues for game developers as well as Facebook).

King.com's CEO is moving more toward mobile, saying: 'I believe that in a year from now, this is going to be a standard'. In fact, King.com's revenues from mobile games are already exceeding its expectations. Will King.com be able to overtake Zynga, boost revenues and become the number one social game company through its focus on mobile?