Mobile game maker King Digital Entertainment, best known for the hit puzzle game Candy Crush Saga, said it planned to raise up to $500 million in an initial public offering.

The company, founded in Sweden in 2002, had filed confidentially for an IPO with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in September under the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act.

King offers more than 180 games in 14 languages through mobile phones, Facebook and its own website.

The company says its games are played more than 1 billion times a day and is believed to generate hundreds of thousands of dollars a day from its games.

Candy Crush Saga, which involves moving candies to make a line of three in the same colour, was the top downloaded free app of 2013, and the year's top revenue-grossing app.

The basic games are free, but players need to pay for add-ons or extra lives.

Candy Crush Saga has been downloaded more than 500 million times since its launch in 2012.

JP Morgan, Credit Suisse and BofA Merrill Lynch are among the lead underwriters.