King's next mission: How to come up with hits bigger than Candy Crush Saga (interview)

King launched Candy Crush Soda Saga, the “sister title” to the enormously successful Candy Crush Saga, earlier this week on Facebook. The game is intended to fuel the public’s fascination with this colorful and sweet franchise, which has been out on mobile for under two years.

King has seen a huge wave from Candy Crush Saga, dominating the top ranking charts on mobile for a couple of years now. Candy Crush Saga players spent $790.1 million on the game in the first six months of 2014. But the laws of gravity will inevitably bring the hit back to earth, and King is using its profits to open studios and create games that will move into Candy Crush’s slipstream. Investors are worried, and they’ve been selling off King shares this week. The stock is at $11.02 a share, about half of its peak during the past year.