Awesome Free Puzzle Game Dominates the iOS Download Charts
A few years back, it was Plants vs. Zombies. Then it was Temple Run. It became Angry Birds. Well, move over gaming apps. Now, it’s Candy Crush Saga’s time to shine.
Candy Crush Saga is the best free puzzle game in the iOS app store right now. Looking at the platform of Candy Crush Saga, it may seem simple and easy to play. There are just candies and jellies as the main characters in the game, unlike previous game sensations such as Plants vs. Zombies and Angry Birds. However, the game eventually reveals its complexity as you play more in the succeeding levels.
Candy Crush Saga = Crazy Popularity
Candy Crush Saga is one of the the most popular and most downloaded games of this generation. In fact, it ranks 3rd on the list of the top downloaded apps in the Apple market. Online database AppData also found that Candy Crush Saga is the most played application on Facebook, with over 45 million users on an average. It has surpassed famous Facebook apps such as Farmville and Tetris, which have been the most popular games during the last few years.
Gaming apps are one of the most downloaded applications both in the popular Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. Candy Crush Saga is available in both markets. Android and iOS users can enjoy the game for free, with just a quick download. Those who do not have smart phones, on the other hand, can still enjoy the game through Facebook applications. What’s good about this game is that it can be played using touch screen phones, tablets, and even laptops and desktops through Facebook. Although the game requires specific versions of Android, a majority of the recent versions of the operating system are compatible with Candy Crush Saga.
Candy Crush Saga is a puzzle game that is easy to play. The goal is to crush at least three candies of the same color, which can be done by switching the candies through a gentle swipe on the screen, if you’re using a touch phone. As the levels go higher, the target gets more complicated, especially with the appearance of candies locked inside jellies. Now players must remove the jellies by crushing them with candies of the same color. All the jellies must be wiped out before the level is complete. The challenge is that the user has a limited number of moves to wipe out all the jellies.
Addictive Game Play
Candy Crush Saga is so popular because it’s an addictive free puzzle game. What makes it interesting is that although it seems so easy to play, the game becomes more challenging as the levels get higher. The player is required to think of more creative strategies to efficiently wipe out all the jellies with the given number of moves. The game is fun and it tickles the mental ability of the player.
What makes it even more interesting is that if you continually lose lives, you’ll get blocked and have to wait for at least thirty minutes to attempt the same level again. You get five lives to consume at the beginning of the game. If you lose all five lives and don’t want to wait for thirty minutes, you can buy lives from the in-app store, or ask friends for lives on Facebook. The store also offers boosters and charms that enhance game play.
Massive Widespread Appeal Of Candy Crush Saga
Just to show that practically the whole world is going crazy over Candy Crush Saga, a research firm on mobile gaming, called Think Gaming, found that Candy Crush Saga is being played about 600 million times per day on an average. This translates to profits for the game developer King. The company is bringing in $633,000 in revenue every day! This just shows you that people from all over the world are crazy about this game. Analysts are optimistic about the future of Candy Crush Saga, as there are predictions it can even generate as high as $230 million for this year alone.
It’s interesting that King wasn’t a big developer before this. Candy Crush Saga has consistently been in the top downloads chart in the iOS app store and the Android market. It has also remained the most played game on Facebook, despite the fact that it wasn’t made by a top developer such as Gameloft, Rovio or Disney. King may have been a big name in Facebook games, but before Candy Crush Saga, it wasn’t overly popular in the mobile app world.
There are rumors that King is planning to get out in public to make it big, but gaming analysts believe it’s not the right time yet. However, analysts are predicting that King is going to make it big eventually. The company is preparing to sustain Candy Crush Saga and come up with new and better gaming apps that can compete with some of the biggest game developers in the world.
The Future of King and Candy Crush Saga
With the big revenue Candy Crush Saga is generating, despite the fact that it is a free game, it will be a big challenge for developers in the gaming world to compete with the number one game in the app store. It’s time for more innovations to improve and promote existing game apps and to develop more games that can equal the popularity and success of Candy Crush Saga.
The question now is… How long will Candy Crush Saga remain on top? Will it die down, just like Temple Run and Angry Birds? Or are its game developers wise enough to create more variants and versions to sustain the momentum?
You can be sure that game developers are beginning to come up with more breakthrough and out of the box gaming ideas. It’s an exciting time in the mobile gaming world, and there is reason to believe that there will be more exciting innovations to come.
Just a note on Candy Crush gameplay. As I’m sure you all know, there is a very specific strategy being used. Although it starts as a skill game it quickly transitions to a “money” game once you cross the river. It means you HAVE to spend money to continue, but by the time you cross the river you are fairly committed to the game. As game devs. we can implement the same or similar strategies, if we ethically want to. You can read more about these strategies in papers by Ramin Shakrizade… or start here…www.gamasutra.com/blogs/authorRaminShokrizade/914048/
How does candy crush make so much money? IAP is earning more for them than ads? I am not a candy crush player but I don’t see not much ads in the game.