Candy Crush Saga pulling in £400k per day

UPDATE: We have reworded the first two paragraphs of this story, as King’s user figures appear to conflict with previous reports. We have contacted King to clarify this.

UPDATE 2: A King spokesperson told Develop that the user figures in this article only account for the game’s Facebook audience, and are based on monthly active users (MAU) found on AppData. The spokesperson added that King has not officially released revenue figures for Candy Crush Saga, and these are assumed to be based on AppData estimates too.

ORIGINAL: Candy Crush Saga appears to be continuing its meteoric rise with little end in sight, as it is now worth an estimated £405,000 per day to its British studio King.

French magazine Le Parisien has reported the figure, and also claims that that the addictive match-three game as no few than 45 million players have downloaded the application on smartphones, tablets or Facebook.

The game’s premise is to align at least three identical candies, much like Bejeweled. But with its free-to-play business model and scoreboard encouraging competition between players, the game has struck upon a winning formula.

As well its simple yet moreish gameplay, word-of-mouth and advertising partnerships have played a part in spreading Candy Crush’s reach worldwide.

King, which was awarded Business Development prize at this years Develop Awards, now has 450 employees worldwide. Along with Candy Crush Saga, the firm also has other mobile titles such as Bubble Witch Saga and Pet Rescue Saga.