The only thing more addictive than eating candy seems to be lining it up in the widely popular smartphone game "Candy Crush Saga."
Now it seems the popular social puzzle game is headed to Wall Street. Midasplayer International Holding Co., the publisher of online and mobile games such as "Bubble Witch Saga" and, of course, "Candy Crush Saga" is taking the preliminary steps to pursue a U.S. initial public offering.
The London-based company, better known as King, already has banks such as J.P. Morgan Chase & Co,. Credit Suisse Group AG and Bank of America Corp. on board to handle the potential offering according to The Wall Street Journal.
A company spokesperson said, "King's success and growth presents numerous opportunities for the business to develop further, and one option would be to take the company public. However, while it's an option for the future, we would not comment on when we could consider making such a decision."
King's impending IPO make many on the market nervous since its coming in the wake of Zynga's unsuccessful IPO in December of 2011. Their shares have fallen about 70 percent since their debut. It has struggled to translate the success of games like "FarmVille," which was one of the most popular social games of the time on Facebook, to mobile platforms.
According to market researcher PwC, the value for a mobile game is there. Especially given the estimates mobile game sales are likely to bring in more than 9.9 billion this year, an increase of 13.5 percent from $8.8 billion spent in 2012.
King's chief executive and co-founder Riccardo Zacconi told reporters at various publications the company was preparing for a possible IPO in 2013 citing the company had been profitable since 2005. However, no official word as to when the "Candy Crush Saga" maker's IPO will be.
"Candy Crush Saga" was launched on Facebook in April of 2012 and has since taken off to become one of the most impossible to ignore smartphone games on the market and has become the most popular app on Facebook estimating 15.4 million average daily users.
