We're at King's Stockholm HQ to take a look at what's new and find out the latest state of play for one of mobile gaming's biggest players.
King’s Candy Crush needs no introduction of course. With over a decade's worth of history, $20 billion in lifetime revenue, five billion downloads and over 200 million players. But sure enough, upon entering King's Stockholm HQ we're treated to an immediate introduction to Mr. Toffee, given physical form in a foyer dripping with King IP, characters and liquefied candy practically oozing from the walls.
King is proud of what it's achieved and upon visiting headquarters this morning, King's evolution over the past 20 years is immediately obvious.
Whether that's shifting focus from Yahoo to Facebook, the rise of mobile, or extensive research into how AI can boost gaming entertainment and player retention dating right back to 2016, the company's passion for advancement through the ever-evolving games market has been demonstrated time and again.
The match-3 monarch
King’s flagship Candy Crush Saga hit its last major milestone and released level number 15,000 in late 2023 marking 10 years of Candy Crush, but the team have added another 100 levels since.
The enduring classic first launched with just 65 levels, and even more than a decade later, every level continues to be crafted by its expert in-house designers. However, last year, an AI bot joined the team, taking over testing duties; King is keen to stress that its level designers continue to lead on the creative side.
“Our challenge is to create the right amount of challenge,” said Candy Crush Saga's head of core gameplay Eva Ryott. In essence, the perfect balance has to be struck between a level being hard enough to feel rewarding to beat, but not so easy players get bored breezing through.
And all through our day at King HQ, putting the player first and a willingness to make changes have been made clear. For example, Candy Crush Soda Saga's head of product Paula Ingvar confirmed that the game was initially intended as a replacement for Candy Crush, before the sustained success of the original led to a change of plan.
We'll have lots more from King including interviews with their leadership team coming soon.
