Life wasn’t so sweet on Tuesday for the maker of the “Candy Crush Saga.”
King Digital Entertainment shares tumbled 22 percent in after-hours trading Tuesday after the mobile game maker reported lower-than-expected second-quarter revenue and lowered its forecast for the rest of 2014.
Stock hit $14.19 a share, a new 52-week low, after closing regular trading at $18.20.
The after-hours decline means King has given up more than a third of its value since going public in March at $22.50.
Investors in King, dismissed by critics as a one-hit wonder, appeared particularly alarmed by sequential declines in the London-based company’s gross bookings and revenue.
Gross bookings — what users spend on virtual items and access to skill tournaments — fell 5 percent from $641 million in the first quarter.
Second-quarter revenue of $594 million represented a 2 percent decrease from the first quarter.
Management attributed both declines to a drop-off at über hit “Candy Crush.” Recent Web and mobile launches — “Farm Heroes Saga” and “Bubble Witch 2 Saga” — saw slight increases.
Although King still has faith in its new games as worthy successors to “Candy Crush,” skeptics fear the company could meet the same fate as the one-hit wonders behind “Angry Birds” and “FarmVille.”
Comparisons to “FarmVille” creator Zynga are especially painful — if not yet as relevant.
Zynga went public in December 2011 at $10 per share, climbed to $15.91 in March 2012 and then crashed to $2.09 in November. It closed Tuesday at $2.86.