Candy Crush Saga “Games Guru” Tommy Palm sits relaxed and attentive in the lobby of the Los Angeles, JW Marriot—right across the hall from an exclusive party thrown by social media behemoth Facebook. Tommy’s invited VIP-style, but he’s too cool to scurry in past the trio of people who just had their elbow rubbing dreams crushed by the doorman. Nope, Mr. Palm got this. Instead he sits back in a suit so fly it looks straight out of a spy movie and he cracks jokes about video games. When you’ve got a video game that’s topping the charts of iTunes, Google Play and Facebook, laughter has got to feel a lot different. "We already knew we had a hit on our hands with Candy Crush Saga," Tommy says after taking a swig from his bottled water. "We had a small competition on the team where we all tried to guess how popular it was going to get and no one even came close."
"Candy Crush Saga is played more that 500 million times a day on mobile alone. It's played by over 15 million people on Facebook and people saying that it's passed Angry Birds too so the assumption is that Candy Crush Saga is the most popular game in the world right now."
The type of quick success achieved by Candy Crush Saga doesn’t happen often, especially without stacks of money being poured into promotion. There weren’t any special cross-brand publicity stunts, celebrity endorsements or vanity add-ons. CCS got its recognition the old-fashioned way, by word of mouth. The odds of getting noticed in the flood of virtual world of puzzle games on both mobile and Facebook is slim. So slim that a game like Candy Crush Saga shouldn’t have become the household name that it is. It was its addictive gameplay and non-obtrusive social media philosophy that got people talking and eventually helped it to spread as the new big thing. Everyone is obsessed with "clearing the jelly" and wiping out the sugary obstacles from the game’s 350-plus levels. It wasn't a surprise over at King that the game would do well but they never imagined this level of fandom. "When you see the type of dedicated fan art and appreciation for the game, it reminds you of why you got into the games industry to begin with," Tommy says with a proud grin. "We've been very positively surprised by how big a phenomenon this is. In some countries like Hong Kong, we're really big. One out of seven people there is playing Candy Crush Saga."
Exactly how big is Candy Crush Saga?
Candy Crush Saga is as addictive as real candy.
On gaining mainstream notoriety.
From high profile celebrities to the average person at home, Candy Crush Saga has made an impact. The game's fans are truly dedicated and love to show their loyalty.
Tommy says: Ellen Degeneres talked about us on her show, she was showing the game and comparing where the rest of the staff was on different levels. That wasn't paid for by us or anything: it was just spontaneous. You can tell she really liked the game. Now, we're actually seeing people doing manicure tutorials on how to make Candy Crush Saga fingernails, and recipies for making cakes out of Candy Crush Saga-themed game boards. We've also seem Candy Crush themed parties for families and kids and stuff. It's really great to see all of that promote the game without us being involved. There's a big YouTube video now, it's the "official" movie trailer for the game that we had nothing to do with.
Our fanbase is mainly women between 25 to 55 and we test on that target group. What we've seen is that if it works really well for them, then it's a very good base for any casual and social gamer, it's a game the entire family can play together.
From my perspective, anyone can be a gamer. When a game is really accessible and social, people who are discovering games for the first time can easily see the entertainment value it has. If you have a minute somewhere or you have to wait in line, [games] are a good opportunity to have a little bit of fun, and socialize with your friends.
Creating memorable characters and a universal theme.
The formula to success.
How King successfully created a share-friendly environment.
On the future of King and video gaming.
King has a hit game but the team doesn't plan on resting on its laurels. Most recently, they released Pet Rescue Saga to mobile phones and expect a similar explosion of popularity. Like Angry Birds, Bejeweled, Plants vs. Zombies and other games that took root on Facebook and mobile, home console ports like the Xbox and PS3 would be the next move. Surprisingly, it's not one that King is interested in.
Tommy says: One of the core things about us is that we want to have our games where the most players are. Compared to smartphones, the older style consoles are a much smaller audience so it's not a priority for us. In the future it might be possible for smart TVs and other things fitting for cross-platform games. It's very important for us that the games are easily accessible and takes less than a minute to start playing.
As far as Pet Rescue Saga, Players who love Candy Crush will instantly recognize the the levels and progression of the map, but it's a completely different type of puzzle. In this game, you need to save some very cute pets. We have 12 different types—from small piglets to kittens and puppies who need to be saved from the evil pet snatchers.
I think that we're still in the early stages of mobile gaming. Today, there is more than one billion devices out there between Android and iOS, and I think that it's going to continue to grow. We currently have 190 million active monthly players in our games, and now with Pet Rescue Saga, we hope to see even more. We're constantly surprised over how it keeps on developing and it's fantastic to be a part of this enormous social phenomenon that's taking place right now.
