By Greg Morcroft - Candy Crush took the online game world by storm and led to a rich March payday for its maker King Digital Entertainment Plc. (NYSE:KING) and now the company is hoping lightning will strike for a second time for its new Bubble Witch Saga 2, released on Wednesday.
The game is a sequel to Bubble Witch Saga, which preceded Candy Crush Saga but did not perform as well.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the game will be playable on both Android and iOS mobile operating systems as well as through Facebook for players on a PC.
Dublin-based King raised $500 million in its initial public offering at $22.50 per share in a March IPO that valued King at $7.09 billion.
Analysts and investors have been particularly skeptical about whether or not King will be able to maintain its growth and profitability.
“Companies like King are reliant on hits,” Mark Little, an analyst at the technology consultant Ovum in London, told the New York Times at the time of the IPO. “It’s an open question whether they can sustain their success.”