King has launched Candy Crush Solitaire around the world as the latest mobile game that carries the Candy Crush brand.
It’s been a while since King launched a game. In fact, I don’t know the answer to that, but it’s been years. The company is a division of Activision Blizzard, which is a division of Microsoft. King has a couple thousand or so developers and it has 200 million players. But its big focus has been on churning out more live services content for Candy Crush Saga.
Of course, I would guess that King doesn’t want to admit it, but it’s chasing Balatro here. Balatro sold more than five million copies and it was made by a single developer. It is a cross between solitaire and poker.
Todd Green, general manager of the Candy Crush franchise at King, said in an interview with GamesBeat said that Candy Crush Solitaire brings a fresh take to the classic card game, combining the timeless fun of solitaire with the vibrant and colorful world of Candy Crush.
The game will have a thousand levels on day one — perhaps the most content ever launched with a King game. Green said he was impressed with the variety of the different levels, which can be modified through boosters, a slot mechanic and different game modes and blockers on the board.
The game play
There’s a lot of action in Candy Crush Solitare.
Candy Crush Solitaire offers players a fun, mentally stimulating challenge, combining the familiar gameplay of TriPeaks solitaire with challenging levels, innovative gameplay, and tasty rewards, as they are immersed into the sensory and whimsical Candy Crush universe.
Beloved characters join players on a sweet journey around the world, collecting Candified postcards and delicious rewards as they progress through the game, solving puzzles and stacking cards. This new mobile game offering will launch with a set of features, including the “Hold Slot”, enabling players to set cards aside for later use, or they can unleash the fan-favorite Candy Color Bomb booster — reimagined in card form — to conquer tricky levels.
Green said the game has been in testing for a few months in places like Germany and Mexico.
Bringing something new to the game
Candy Crush Solitaire brings the polish and beautiful art of the franchise.
“With so many Solitaire games on the market, you’re collecting cards and different challenges. But there’s a couple of things that we particularly like about the game,” Green said. “It’s beautifully polished, plays really nicely, and has a lot of small details in the polish.”
He added, “For example, the way that the boosters interact with the cards, and the way that the card collection works, particularly when you’re doin …