You've heard of the 1%. Here are the 4%.
King Digital Entertainment, maker of Candy Crush Saga disclosed in its U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission IPO paperwork on Tuesday that just 4% of its users — about 12 million people — pay to use its products. Since King posted $1,884,301,000 in revenues in 2013, that amounts to $157 per user for that minority of customers.
Since King employs a freemium model for its games, there's no reason for fans to pay for anything. However, if players can't ascend to the next level in a game, they can either wait 30 minutes until it starts up again, ask Facebook friends to give them lives or pay a small fee to King.
As it turns out, however, those small fees can add up.
Alie Badillo, a 25-year-old digital-media executive in New York, said she spent around $1,000 on Candy Crush last year. Badillo had been spending about $20 a month to buy coins for Scramble With Friends, her previous favorite game. Then a work colleague introduced her to Candy Crush.
See also: 'Candy Crush' Is Bigger Than Twitter, But Probably Not For Long
At first, she was unimpressed. "I said, 'This game is so stupid. It's so easy!' and he said 'That's how they suck you in.'" Those words proved prophetic.
That weekend, during a train ride from New York City to Scarsdale, N.Y. to see her mother, Badillo spent $100. "I literally could not stop playing," she said. Badillo stuck with Candy Crush for another three months before putting the game aside.
Badillo ultimately quit for reasons that had nothing to do with money. "I couldn't beat this one level, and I was so sick of it," she said. "I just deleted it." Badillo added that she thinks the level was 243. There are 544 levels in the game.

Chris Pierson
Chris Pierson, 25, got a lot higher than Badillo, and spent less money. After five or six months of playing, he made it to level 363, and spent between $200 and $250. Unlike Badillo, however, he's still playing — about 15 minutes each day. "I travel a lot, and so when I have down time I play," he said. "I get frustrated, so I spend money to help pass levels. I don't regret it, but it adds up quickly. 100 times 99 cents ... It gets up there."
Pierson, a digital strategist in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., thinks he will soon tire of Candy Crush "Like all games on an iPhone, I'm sure I will," he said. "This game has lasted pretty long for me, though."
Many users apparently have it even worse. Candy Crush players have left their children stranded at school, neglected housework and injured themselves while in the throes of an addiction to the game. according to a recent Time report. Why? Like Flappy Bird, another maddeningly addictive game, Candy Crush provides an experience that is is hard enough to be challenging, yet not too hard to be discouraging — a sweet spot that psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi famously deemed "flow."
Yet flow usually refers to acquiring skills that can enhance your life, such as learning to play the piano or mastering a new language. Dr. David Greenfield, who runs the Center for Internet and Technology Addiction in West Hartford, Conn., said Candy Crush fans are getting the sensation of flow without its benefits. "Nothing gets built from it; nothing gets done; you don't learn anything from it."
On a physiological level, players experience random and intermittent rewards in the game, which translate into bursts of dopamine coursing through their brains. "They think it's fun, but what's happening is they're getting drugged," Greenfield said.
It's at that point that Candy Crush ingeniously interrupts the experience with a time-out: When you run out of lives, you have to wait 30 minutes to resume. For players experiencing a dopamine rush, spending $1 seems like a logical decision, especially if you're using the game to occupy yourself during an otherwise-boring situation.
That's the crux of the Candy Crush addiction, but hysterical media reports have conflated mild abuse of the game with actual addiction. For most, that isn't the case. Greenfield, for instance, said he hasn't seen any cases of actual Candy Crush addictions in his practice. Drugging yourself with dopamine might also sound like an unsavory practice, but it's the exact thing that happens when you read a good book or enjoy a movie. As Greenfield noted, "All pleasurable things are potentially addictive."

Sarah Lauren Gale
Image: Sarah Lauren Gale
Indeed, there seem to be many people who can take or leave Candy Crush. In addition to the 96% of players who never spend a dime on the game, there are some users who spend very modest sums.
Sarah Lauren Gale, a 28-year-old social-media specialist based in Montreal, has spent a grand total of $5 on the game. Gale said she devotes about 40 minutes each day playing the game, usually with the TV on in the background. "I really try not to spend cash on Candy Crush," she said. "Instead, I bug my friends to give me lives, or I just keep trying until I beat the level."
James Lane, a 27-year-old writer from Hoboken, N.J., said he's spent around $20 in total on Candy Crush. "I have been playing the game for about a year now, and dedicate at least one hour each day to play (unless I am stuck in traffic, then it's more like three)."
For Lane, the $20 was the result of misunderstanding. "I spent money in the beginning because I was unaware you could ask friends on Facebook for lives," he said. "I also didn't know about unlocking levels. I thought you had to pay."
Lane added that he doesn't plan to spend any more money on the game. "I know now how easy it is to get boosters, lives and extra moves," he said. "Although I know nothing about a social life."

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.