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Who Made Candy Crush?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The game was made by the game studio King. King Digital Entertainment is a Swedish company best known for making and selling social and casual games. Besides the popular Candy Crush, they made Bubble Witch Saga, Farmville, and Pet Rescue Saga.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2016, King was bought by Activision Blizzard for US$5.9 billion, and in 2023, Activision was bought by Microsoft, so King and Candy Crush are now part of the Microsoft group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When Did Candy Crush Come Out?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The game was initially launched on Facebook in April 2012 as a browser-based game. It gained popularity instantly, having over 4 million<\/a> players in just a few weeks. Motivated by the success of the browser version, King released a mobile version of the game later in 2012. In 2015, the game became available on Windows OS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Based on data<\/a> from company quarterly reports, Candy Crush is estimated to generate almost 3 million dollars in revenue daily, which has grown more than twice since 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For years, the game has maintained extreme popularity. Candy Crush has a steady number of monthly active players. In 2024, 12 years after its release, over 200 million<\/a> people play it every month. The number of players has decreased slightly, but it didn\u2019t affect revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The data showed<\/a> that in the first seven years, people spent 73 billion hours (8.3 million years) playing Candy Crush. Some people claim that the game became a real addiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some years ago, Alex Dale, a senior executive at King, said<\/a> that one player spent on Candy Crush $2,600 in one day. Dale noted that \u201cthe player was thinking rationally and taking advantage of a sale in the game\u2019s store.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is nothing revolutionary about Candy Crush, and there wasn\u2019t anything when it first launched in 2012. A decade earlier, another match-three game, Bejeweled, was a top-downloads hit. These games help people distract and are a perfect pastime during the commute. Yet only one in thousands has become so popular.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Claiming to know the secret of Candy Crush’s popularity would be speculation, but there are some facts that definitely contribute to its success. The King team never stopped developing the game, adding new levels, and perfecting the sales funnel. Although from the outside, the game doesn\u2019t seem to have changed in years, there is a big team working on it continuously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Candy Crush team doesn\u2019t just sketch new levels. They analyze large datasets of their users to learn players\u2019 behavioral patterns and later use this information to design a more engaging and addictive game that people want to play again and again and spend more time and money on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Along with data analysis, they use AI to help them design new levels and test them, modeling different user behaviors. With all these technologies hidden behind tiles of candies, the game captures the attention of so many people. \u201cIt\u2019s great to start your day by winning at something,\u201d said<\/a> Paula Ingvar, head of Soda Saga.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2023, King announced<\/a> that Candy Crush Saga had over 5 billion downloads. This number becomes even bigger if you add other games of the franchise, like the Jelly and Soda sagas. In 2024, the number of quarterly downloads plunged compared to the beginning of 2023, but it\u2019s not the first time it happened to Candy Crush. In 2016 there was already some decline in the number of downloads, but later, the numbers went higher again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The business model that Candy Crush and similar games use is freemium. The game is free, yet players can access more gaming experience if they are willing to pay a little extra. Let\u2019s take a closer look at this game economy design<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Candy Crush makes money through in-app purchases. Users can buy extra lives and other bonus items to help them complete the levels. The in-game currency is called Gold Bars. 50 Gold Bars are sold for $1.99, while 500 are worth $14.99.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the beginning, Candy Crush also used to have ads, but in 2013, they decided to remove the apps as they brought in a small part of the revenue but annoyed users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Free games earn the bulk of their income from a small percentage of players. In the case of Candy Crush, over 96% of users never buy anything. Among the percentage of those who do purchase bonus items, the vast majority would spend very little. A tiny percentage of paying users, called \u201cwhales,\u201d brings them a disproportionately large share of the revenue. Some people spend hundreds or thousands of dollars monthly due to the game’s addictive nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When looking at the data that compares the most popular games in the US by the number of gamers who made in-app purchases in them, you can see that Candy Crush Saga is leading the list with 11%, and Candy Crush Soda Saga occupies 4th place with 7%, thus making the franchise absolute leader of the list. It wins over other popular mobile games like Call of Duty: Mobile and Pok\u00e9mon Go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This graph demonstrates that Candy Crush manages to attract an enormous number of players and does an excellent job of stimulating people to buy Gold Bars. Let\u2019s take a deeper look into Candy Crush’s secrets and find out how it achieves such a high level of conversion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When looking at Candy Crush’s revenues, one can see how efficient IAPs are. Even if all 5 billion users paid the standard price for the download, they wouldn\u2019t have made as much money as they do by selling Gold Bars. The price would have to be $4 to reach the same revenue, but then there would be much fewer players.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Developing a casual puzzle game is much easier than a complex modern triple-A RPG with movie-like 3D graphics. With simple visuals and game mechanics, the price is quite accessible. However, it\u2019s not a straight way to the billions fortune.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is obvious that Candy Crush takes a lot to maintain. Scalable servers that can handle millions of players add to the cost, as do continuously added levels, marketing, and overhead. For simplification, let\u2019s say we want to make a game like Candy Crush, but do not want to immediately reach the level of customers Candy Crush has. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Core development would be from $30,000 to $70,000, and graphics, animation, and sound design would be from $12,000 to $30,000. Add in level design and testing, and the total would be from $50,000 to $100,000, $150,000, and more if you need more advanced visuals, gameplay, smart monetization, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The revenue of Candy Crush is close to a major candy company like Haribo, though the candy is not real. Given the huge amount of success and impressive revenues, it is not surprising that many people want to make a casual game with a similar monetization system. Now that you know all the insider info on their monetization strategies, it\u2019s time to dare and try making it with your idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To develop a game like Candy Crush, you need a team of game designers, developers, artists, animators, sound designers, QA testers, and a project manager. The team could consist of 7-15 people, depending on the game’s complexity and timing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you don\u2019t have prior experience with such products, find a game development studio with a portfolio<\/a> of quality casual games. If you don\u2019t have a clear idea yet, here is an expert tip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In our portfolio, there are simple match-three games like Candy Crush along with more sophisticated projects. An example of a simple casual game is Juicy Fruits, like a healthy diet version of Candy Crush. Kevuru Games made a full-cycle game development ob this mobile game. It runs on Unity and is available for Android and iOS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the niche of match-3 games is quite busy, gaining success with a new product as simple as Candy Crush is hard. To stand out from the competition and capture the attention of players, you can add an original storyline. For that, you need well-developed characters and animation. Quality 2D art can be your competitive advantage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At Kevuru Games, we have experience with such projects. Some of the games we\u2019ve been working on have match-3 elements, as well as an engaging narrative and interesting characters. For example, the game Shade<\/a> is an interactive novel with match-3 elements. Here is a scene created for the game by our artists.<\/p>\n\n\n\nHow Much Does Candy Crush Make a Day<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nPopularity and User Engagement<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Why is Candy Crush So Popular?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
How Many Downloads Does Candy Crush Have?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe Business Model Behind Candy Crush<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
How Does Candy Crush Make Money?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Inside Candy Crush’s Monetization Strategies<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe Role of In-App Purchases (IAPs)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The Cost of Developing a Game Like Candy Crush<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Want to Develop a Game Like Candy Crush?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
How to succeed in the market of match-3 games? Kevuru expertise<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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