How Candy Crush wants to expand even more on its 10th anniversary

By Alexander Lee

Candy Crush, the most-installed mobile game in the world, celebrates the 10th anniversary of its release today. To mark the occasion, the game is undergoing a considerable brand rejuvenation, replete with an updated orchestral soundtrack and a shiny new style.

Originally a Facebook browser game, Candy Crush Saga has been downloaded more than three billion times, meaning over a third of the world’s population is familiar with the addicting match-three title. It’s a free-to-play game — but eventually, if you play long enough, you’re almost guaranteed to spend money. Doing so is frictionless, enticing, and the point of the entire service.

But in-game purchases are not the only way in which Candy Crush’s creators at the Stockholm-based studio King are using the mobile game to generate revenue. Since its acquisition by Activision Blizzard in 2016, King has gradually introduced in-game advertising into the game; more recently, King has started to use Candy Crush as a staging ground for paid brand activations and celebrity tie-ins.

With further upheaval on the horizon, including changes to Apple’s data tracking policies and Microsoft’s impending acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Digiday spoke to King president Tjodolf Sommestad to learn how Candy Crush is prepared to weather these storms as it rings in its first decade. (Editor’s note: Activision Blizzard paid for this reporter to travel and board for a two-day press tour of King’s company headquarters).

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Candy Crush has developed a reputation as a game for non-gamers — commuters, soccer parents and so on. Is this a fair reputation?

I mean, we have a very diverse audience, probably more diverse than many other games. So from that perspective, I think that is fair, but I think it’s probably a question of what is the definition of a gamer, though. Even when I’m picking up my kids at school, or on the commute back — by definition, you’re a gamer as well, but probably a player that is not necessarily thinking about themselves as a gamer as much.

We’re lucky to have both. We have players that are really passionate, and that we know are playing many other games; I would say those are hardcore gamers. But Candy Crush also reaches a lot of people that don’t play other games, but do play Candy Crush.

With that in mind, is Candy Crush’s 10th anniversary brand refresh more of a play to retain the interest of players already within the ecosystem, or bring in new players previously uninterested in Candy Crush?

I don’t think one excludes the other. Broadly, we’ve had more than 3 billion installs to Candy Crush Saga — so many in the world have tried Candy Crush. And we think there should be exciting for players, that is new and fresh and stays relevant for another decade. It shouldn’t feel like the same game that it was a year ago, or 10 years ago. So we’re trying to tap into both: take the players that are loyal on that journey of …read more

Source:: Digiday