[Mobile Games] How King defines a ‘good’ Candy Crush Saga level – and constantly prunes the bad ones

[GL HERO SHIMA]

Last week at GDC, King gave attendees a peek behind the curtain at the complex process behind how it defines the success of each Candy Crush Saga level.

Head of central insights Jan Wedekind and senior director of data science Xavier Guardiola started by noting that millions of players have passed the 10,000th level in Candy Crush Saga, and most of them have not paid a penny.

Guardiola said that at launch, Candy Crush Saga’s notoriously difficult level 65 was originally intended to be the final stage of the game. It was too hard, and as a result it became both the highest converting level in the game and the stage that has “has made the most revenue ever,” said Guardiola.

But it has also caused the most player churn, he said. It was one of the first levels King A/B tested after launch, the results of which naturally showed that increasing difficulty raised conversions short term. Over the long run, though, making the level easier retained players longer.

https://mobilegamer.biz/how-king-defines-a-good-candy-crush-saga-level-and-why-it-constantly-prunes-the-bad-ones/