King Digital Entertainment lowered its full-year outlook after reporting slow bookings in the second quarter. Gross bookings were still up 27 percent year-on-year but fell 5 percent from the first quarter to USD 611 million. The company blamed the weaker-than-expected performance on lower gross bookings from Candy Crush Saga, which were only partially offset by increased bookings from the games Farm Heroes Saga and Bubble Witch 2 Saga. It now expects gross bookings of USD 500-525 million for the third quarter and USD 2.25-2.35 billion for the full year.
Quarterly revenue rose 30 percent from a year ago to USD 594 million, and adjusted EBITDA was up 35 percent to USD 248 million. Net profit increased 31 percent to USD 165 million, and the company said it will pay a special dividend of USD 150 million to shareholders.
King had 485 million active users on a monthly basis in Q2, up by 1 percent from the first quarter and 83 percent more than a year earlier. Around 10.4 million were paying users. King also announced the acquisition of Nonstop Games, a games developer based in Singapore.
