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Everyone remembers the heights of Candy Crush Saga. The game was fun, compelling, and everywhere. The game Candy Crush Soda Saga likely has far less immediate name recognition, but it was revealed recently that the mobile game that first launched in November 2014 still brings in $17-$20 million for King.
Numbers like that would easily knock the socks off many mobile games, especially given its longevity, but Soda Saga is only the little brother of Candy Crush Saga, and King faces an interesting challenge to maintain multiple extremely similar games.
In a recent interview with MobileGamer.biz, vice president of product at Candy Crush Soda Saga Paula Ingvar went into some fascinating detail about the titles. “Saga was complimentary, yet slightly different, so Candy and Soda managed to attract a set of dual players that stayed loyal to both games.”
Ingvar continued, “We learned very quickly that there is room for more…it was not like launches in the past where there’s a new game and no one plays the older version…”
How does King balance two games as similar as Candy Crush and Soda Saga?
A key question on everyone’s lips is how King juggles two extremely similar and highly successful games without deviating too much from a profitable formula. Ingvar acknowledged that it’s a question they have to “grapple with in terms of the strategy for the franchise,” continuing to add, “It doesn’t have a trivial answer because both games are global and you know, honestly, outside of the King bubble, the games are more alike than not.”
“I think we tend to see the differences and sometimes focus on what makes the titles different. Whereas to the player, it’s almost like it doesn’t have to matter to them.”
Ingvar confirmed that Candy Crush Saga carries a lot of the weight and responsibility of the franchise, which means they can be a little more creative and fluid when it comes to Soda Saga.
“A couple of years ago we were flirting a little bit more with arcade, a little bit with mid-core, but now we’ve come back from both of those and we’re like: nope, it’s casual, it’s events, it’s localization, it’s accessibility. I think we’ve become more and more articulate about what makes Soda Soda, focusing on things like the physics.”
Players can expect to see events and specials towards the end of the year to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the game in November. It would certainly be an interesting time for Microsoft to launch their own mobile app store to capitalize on the increased attention to the title.
Featured image credit: King
