Candy Crush Marketing Strategy: What Makes Candy Crush Successful?

Candy Crush is a game that’s played by almost every individual having a smartphone. I bet you must have played it at least once in your life! Everything was fine until the following kind of news headlines popped up from all over the world-

“UP teacher sacked after his phone reveals how long he played Candy Crush.”

“US priest spends $40,000 of Church funds on Candy Crush, arrested.”

Just Google it and you’ll find tons of similar events. Now, it makes us wonder- Why are folks so crazy about Candy Crush?

All thanks to the Candy Crush marketing strategy! And yes, we can’t overlook the Candy Crush business model either.

So, let’s discuss the secrets of Candy Crush that make it so successful!

(A) Candy Crush: Profile Overview

Candy Crush Saga is a tile-matching puzzle video game. All you need to do is swap and match three same-color candies to make them disappear. 

Let’s have a brief overview of the company’s profile-

Many games come and go but Candy Crush has held the crown of the highly played game over a decade. Here is the data mentioned in Wikipedia–

After seeing this data, one obvious question that might pop into your mind is- What made Candy Crush successful?

Go through the next section, and you’ll find out!

(B) What is the Candy Crush business model?

Candy Crush has spread its arms like wildfire due to the following working strategies-

Simple UI: Easy to Play

As discussed above, you just need to switch the candies of the same color in rows or columns to remove them from the board. Do you know, that this game was primarily designed for women in the age group 25-45 years so that they can kill time with entertainment? 

Fortunately, this game was so easy and mind-blowing that it became highly popular among all age groups be it children or adults.

Also, you can complete the game very quickly i.e. within 2-5 minutes.

Here comes the plot twist…

As you move forward, the difficulty levels increase as well. Also, the limited number of lives creates more suspense and addiction among the users to play longer.

There are negligible glitches in the app. Its nice graphics with soothing music is highly pleasing to its audience.

Freemium App: Offering Game for Free

Legends say- “Want to attract the crowd? Just start offering the product for free!” Candy Crush follows this marketing strategy dedicatedly. 

So, similar to other freemium apps, you can simply download it from the Google Play Store for free and start playing. 

So, you can complete the game without spending a single cent. But wait! That’s not the end. You need to follow certain conditions-

• Limited Lives: 5 Lives that renew after 30 minutes
• Limited Moves: 7 moves (Level 2039) to 45 moves (level 9441).

So these free features are good enough to make the audience addicted to the game. And once the player gets addicted to playing Candy Crush, it throws its next strategy.

In-App Purchases: Why Candy Crush is so profitable?

Unlike other apps, the in-app purchases in Candy Crush are not for any product or service. So, what does it offer? Extra lives and moves!

Yes, the lives and moves that are limited in the freemium feature, can be renewed by paying for it. The cost of the in-app purchases is highly pocket-friendly-

Guess what?

This is the prime revenue source of Candy Crush. Since this game is highly addictive the cost of the above titles is not that high. Hence, the users are ready to pay easily.

In 2023, Candy Crush generated revenue of over $956 million.

Thus, these in-app purchases are a long-lasting and sustainable income for Candy Crush Saga.

No Ads: High User Retention

As you know, Candy Crush is a freemium app. So with the term “freemium” you may assume that it would be making money through advertising. And you know pretty well how annoying those ads are…

This is the point where Candy Crush employs psychological tricks. It doesn’t show any ad in the app and the audience enjoys playing the game happily.

That’s how Candy Crush is able to retain users for a longer period of time.

(C) Marketing Strategies of Candy Crush

So, here are some of the superb marketing strategies employed by the Candy Crush Saga-

Word of Mouth Marketing

This is the most successful marketing strategy because it is based on personal recommendations and is more successful than traditional or digital marketing. Candy Crush knew this very well. That’s why it brilliantly worked on its business model to retain and win the hearts of its customers. 

We have already discussed the working strategies of Candy Crush (in the previous) that played a significant role in its word-of-mouth marketing.

Targeting Facebook Users

This marketing strategy was immensely helpful in gaining more new users. Do you remember how you need to pay for an extra life in the in-app purchases?

Don’t want to purchase anything from Candy Crush but couldn’t stop playing either? Don’t worry! Candy Crush has a solution for this too…

You can send requests to your Facebook Friends to get extra lives or moves. You can do the same for your friends.

Facebook already has over 3 billion active users. Hence, this strategy was perfect to engage and gain more users. So yes, Facebook became an essential source of new users for Candy Crush!

Creating a Competitive Environment

Competition creates motivation. We all know that, and so does Candy Crush! You can compare your progress with your friends, family members, and other players. This competition has a huge impact on your psychology. To compete and win, you may spend more money. 

Once you reach a high level of this game, it becomes your pride in your social circle. That’s how the creation of a competitive environment was an impactful marketing strategy to retain the users.

Use of Analytics to Retain Users

There was a time when level 65 of Candy Crush was considered the most difficult to crack. Consequently, users started abandoning the app. Within no time, Candy Crush spotted this factor through its analytics and fixed it. This level was simplified so that the users stick to the game for a longer period!

Rewards and Gamification

Candy Crush adds multiple gaming elements like rewards and badges to motivate the players to continue with the game. This enhanced engagement is very fruitful for the app.

Celebrity Endorsements 

King Digital has leveraged various celebs and influencers to promote Candy Crush Saga to attract new users from different demographics. 

However, Candy Crush was promoted free of cost too! Last year, MS Dhoni’s pic playing Candy Crush went viral. As a result, over 3 million people immediately downloaded the game.

Candy Crush is quite lucky!

(D) Key Takeaways from Candy Crush Marketing Strategies

Before wrapping up, let’s quickly glance at what we can learn from Candy Crush Marketing Strategy-

• Freemium yet Money Making: Candy Crush is free to play yet it brilliantly earned $956 million in 2023 through its in-app purchase. It shows that you have a large user base and that you can make good money by offering premium features at low prices.
• Keeping everything simple: The secret of Candy Crush having a large user base is its simple game that fits perfectly with every age group.
• Rewards: You are always rewarded for your achievements in Candy Crush games like lollipop hammer or treasure chest. These virtual rewards boost player’s confidence increasing user engagement.
• Social Sharing: The game encourages social sharing so that you can share your progress with other players. These mini-community creations have helped Candy Crush to maintain a loyal user base.

Note: We have thoroughly explained the “GamesKraft Success Story.” Go through the article for detailed information.

(E) Final Words

Thus, you can see how the developers of Candy Crush brilliantly used psychological tricks in their marketing strategies. Although we can’t deny its smooth user interface either! 

It never forces users to pay for the game instead it motivates the user to win the game by in-app purchases.

Thus, Candy Crush became successful and continues to reign in the gaming space globally!