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Candy Crush Saga publisher talks sweet success

Kurtis Seid

Kurtis Seid

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Candy Crush Saga logoCandy Crush Saga has become a serious hit for Android, iOS and Facebook. The puzzle game borrows aspects of Bejeweled, but adds in many gameplay elements to stay original. The basic goal is to shift the position of different colored confections and create rows and columns of the same color. Players gain special power ups by lining up candy into even more complex shapes; a row of four identical colors will destroy everything else in the row, while five matching candies can wipe out an entire color on screen. It’s this exciting gameplay that has led Candy Crush Saga to become a popular game with over ten million downloads across all platforms and 350 diverse levels.

We spoke with “Mobile Guru” Tommy Palm from King.com, the publisher of Candy Crush Saga. We asked him about the game, transitioning from Facebook to mobile, and what’s in the future for King.com on mobile.

Social Games: from web to mobile

Softonic: When did Candy Crush Saga come out? What fueled the decision to bring it to mobile devices?

Tommy Palm: The original game “Candy Crush” was made for our website king.com and launched in mid-2011. It is a simpler version of Candy Crush Saga with just one level and without the Social integration. We could see from the statistics that the game had a lot of potential. It was also well fitted for mobile devices due to the limited number of game objects and fit our vision of cross-platform games.  (picture of the original one level game attached)

The mobile version of Candy Crush Saga was released in the end of November 2012 and in December the game was downloaded 10 million times for mobile devices.

The first Candy Crush

Just the right sweetness

Welcome to Candy Crush Saga

ST: At King.com, you must be testing the target market for Candy Crush Saga constantly. Can you tell us under which group the game is most popular?

TP: One of the core reasons Candy Crush Saga is so popular is that it has a very broad target market. It does not exclude any group of people by being for instance violent or offensive. That makes the game a good fit in a social setting where families can play together. One target group that have not had as many games made for them before is women in the age of 25-55. They seem to like Candy Crush Saga and that is important when making games with a wide target audience.


Porting to Mobile

ST: King.com has a lot of popular games. Are there plans to port other titles to mobile devices?

TP: Yes, we feel that cross-platform games, like Candy Crush Saga that can be played seamlessly on multiple platforms, are the future. Mobile is a key platform for us so do not be surprised if you see some new announcements soon 😉 We do not use the word port internally because we feel that it implies not taking the new platform seriously. We rebuild the game from scratch and make sure it feels just as inspired as if the game was made to the platform from the beginning.

ccs mobile

Staying Competitive

ST: Gaming websites are skyrocketing at the moment. What distinguishes King from the competition?

TP: King has been around for ten years, so we are no newcomer in the game making space. But we are very passionate to make social casual games that spans all platforms. We take making game seriously and will continue delivering joy to those moments when you were previously just waiting around.

Thank you for answering our questions, Tommy. We are very curious about what King.com will do next.

Depending on the level, Candy Crush Saga can be a quick and simple game ideal for on the go mobile entertainment. It evolved from the simpler Candy Crush, which only had one level and no social capabilities. Candy Crush Saga goes even further by diversifying the audience; while its cute design might make it seem like a kid’s game, it in fact invites in anyone to play. The game’s non-violent and non-offensive atmosphere is appealing to families and women. Tommy Palm and King.com hope to bring more of its popular social games to Android and iOS. Until then we’ll continue playing the fun and challenging Candy Crush Saga.

Are you among the Candy Crush Saga players? Do you play on the web over Facebook, Android or iOS?

Kurtis Seid

Kurtis Seid

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