

The scale of advertising spend in the space goes some way to explaining that – but that is all predicated on the engagement that users have with the games themselves. However, he also notes that King is first and foremost a mobile gaming company. It was, he notes, King’s early transition from Facebook to mobile that ultimately led to King’s success in the space. To that end, King’s president Tjodolf Sommestad acknowledges that the company is “always looking” at the advent of new tech such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), which could potentially upend the industry as thoroughly as mobile platforms once did. “What we ’re seeing is that these apparatus are going to get built, both with respect to the complexity of the economics of the game industry, but also as a reflection of to be as wide as possible.”

Some of them want a free game where they just buy some stuff as they go on. Some of them are going to be very happy to pay upfront for a certain experience, cool. And for that to be possible, we need to be really flexible in terms of how we transact with customers. “Activision Blizzard, among many other game companies, wants the entire world to be playing our games. Stringfield argues that, while publishers and developers should aim for parity in terms of quality respective to platform, the gaming ecosystem is wide enough to allow for a wide array of monetization methods.

Meanwhile, a number of activities outside the game aim to introduce the anniversary changes to a wider audience, including a drone show over New York City. A refresh of the music – for the first time in 10 years – involved a live orchestra recording new arrangements at Abbey Road Studios in London, while the characters within the app are now more animated than before. The King team went out of its way, for example, to form a meticulous explanation for why Sonic the Hedgehog would appear in its world, for example.įor the 10th anniversary, Candy Crush is celebrating within and without the app itself. That and the fact the organization was the first gaming organization to sign up to the IAB UK’s Gold Standard.īeyond advertising, Candy Crush is also demonstrating that brands can get involved with games beyond just sticking a video ad between levels. Those gaming communities, which have existed around King’s properties since it was building games for Facebook, are part and parcel of why advertisers are attracted to mobile titles. Green says these updates have kept the community strong, and specifically cites some of the fan-run Wikis as being proof points for the scale of engagement that users have with the game. A huge amount of effort goes into keeping the candy fresh. While the core experience changes iteratively, with the introduction of new levels and icons, there ’s a consistent sense of novelty for the players. He believes that the longevity of the title can be chalked up to the constant updates.

Todd Green is general manager of Candy Crush.
