Will Candy Crush firm King join Britsoft IPO club?

Rumour-mongers say we should expect another shock stock market float from a UK games firm.

In the last seven days, developer Frontier and localisation outfit Keywords have floated on the London Stock Exchange’s Alternate Investment Market.

Yet nose-tappers reckon these are just a warm up for the biggest games industry float in some time: Candy Crush creator King.

The firm told MCV it had no comment on rumours that it was planning an IPO.

Speculation swirls around the firm on the presumption that its Candy Crush Saga game is generating millions of pounds each week.

In recent months King has rebranded, launched new titles, and tightened up how it operates in-game advertising.

It all suggests they are getting in their house in order to me,” one senior industry exec commented to MCV.

Frontier had kept its plans away from the press until four days before the offering. It and Keywords had modest-to-good success in the last week, with the QA outfit maintaining its initial share price of 145p, while Frontier closed its first days almost 25 per cent up at 164p.

The time is right – market opportunities are good with lots of growth forecast for mobile and console,” Frontier founder David Braben told MCV.

Investor moods have changed. In Britain there were a few early burnt fingers in terms of investment but that has changed.”

Keywords boss CEO Andrew Day agreed, telling us: "It would be great to see more firms out there with us. All this activity can only be good to prove the health of the industry."