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Candy Crush Saga Players Spent Over $1.3 Billion on In-App Purchases in 2014

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Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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Candy Crush Saga may have reached peak popularity, with quarterly spending declining over the past eighteen months, but that hasn't stopped the sweet-swapping puzzle game from raking in the cash. Candy Crush Saga players still spent over $1.3 billion on the game in 2014 alone, according to The Guardian, with dollars being used towards in-app purchases such as extra lives, extra moves, color bombs, lollipop hammers and gold bars.

candy-crush-saga.jpg
Candy Crush Saga continues to be the third-highest grossing app in the United States, closely trailed by Candy Crush Soda Saga at sixth overall. The game has gained a cult-like following since launching on the App Store in June 2013, following in the footsteps of other smash-hit games such as Infinity Blade and Angry Birds. The game was most lucrative when it pulled in $551 million during the third quarter of 2013.

The latest financial numbers from King, the developer of the game, reveal that Candy Crush Saga represented 45% of spending on the company's games during the final quarter of 2014, the first quarter in a long time that the iconic title did not make up the majority of its revenue. King has been working to diversify its gaming portfolio so that it relies less on Candy Crush Saga to remain profitable. The company had 356 million monthly unique users playing its games last quarter.

Earlier this week, Apple introduced a new category on the App Store to promote games without in-app purchases. The "Pay Once & Play" section offers a range of titles that are organized into the following categories: Recent Releases, Blockbuster Games, and App Store Originals. Some of the featured titles include Thomas Was Alone, Minecraft - Pocket Edition, Hero Emblems, Threes, Blek, and Goblin Sword.

Article Link: Candy Crush Saga Players Spent Over $1.3 Billion on In-App Purchases in 2014
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2015/02/13/candy-crush-saga-revenue-2014/
R

Rodster

macrumors 68040
May 15, 2007
3,177
6
I have never made an IAP and never will. 99.5% of my games which includes full games as well i've acquired, free.
 
0815

0815

macrumors 68000
Jul 9, 2010
1,793
1,065
here and there but not over there
thats crazy ... that is why so many companies try IAP, they would make less money when they would charge the high price up front, because nobody would buy it - but seems people don't mind paying in small increments.

Anyway, I played the game, was fun, but when it came to the point where it was basically impossible to play without paying, I deleted it.
 
T

tl01

macrumors 68020
Jun 20, 2010
2,350
649
Rodster said:
I have never made an IAP and never will. 99.5% of my games which includes full games as well i've acquired, free.
Click to expand...

I buy lots of apps and make lots of in app purchases. Often I find the apps I enjoy most and that are the most helpful for me cost money... But to each his or her own. That said... I tried Candy Crush and just couldn't get into it even when it was the only app to play on a 4 hour airplane flight.
 
jhfenton

jhfenton

macrumors 65816
Dec 11, 2012
1,176
802
Cincinnati, Ohio
Rodster said:
I have never made an IAP and never will. 99.5% of my games which includes full games as well i've acquired, free.
Click to expand...

I've never bought a game IAP, but I've bought IAPs in a few apps like Paper, where you're unlocking a feature or removing a limitation. With no native app store support for trial periods, it's a reasonable way to have a free trial or "lite" version of an app.

But it is mind-blowing that people spend this much on game IAPs. :eek:
 
ArtOfWarfare

ArtOfWarfare

macrumors G3
Nov 26, 2007
9,558
6,058
Don't forget that the "mium" in "Freemium" means "not really".

There was an entire episode of South Park on how the Freemium industry works this past season. Hilarious. The whole season is worth watching - a lot of the best episodes they've had in years.
 
C

CEmajr

macrumors 601
Dec 18, 2012
4,450
1,230
Charlotte, NC
0815 said:
thats crazy ... that is why so many companies try IAP, they would make less money when they would charge the high price up front, because nobody would buy it - but seems people don't mind paying in small increments.

Anyway, I played the game, was fun, but when it came to the point where it was basically impossible to play without paying, I deleted it.
Click to expand...

Yeah same here. I played it a lot a couple of years ago until I got stuck on levels that I knew were designed to get you to pay. Then I stopped playing.
 
maflynn

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,451
43,370
That's crazy, I can't imagine how much $$ people spend on in-app purchases. I'll drop a buck, maybe 2 on an in app purchase once every 6 months or so.

I usually don't even consider fremium games either, they suck you in, and you get to a point that you need to spend money to move forward.
 
P

praetorian909

macrumors 6502
Aug 4, 2004
279
91
ArtOfWarfare said:
Don't forget that the "mium" in "Freemium" means "not really".

There was an entire episode of South Park on how the Freemium industry works this past season. Hilarious. The whole season is worth watching - a lot of the best episodes they've had in years.
Click to expand...

Hah yeah, heard about that. I think it was "mium" is Latin for "not really." Hilarious...and so true
 
Mac'nCheese

Mac'nCheese

Suspended
Feb 9, 2010
3,752
5,108
iBlazed said:
Is there a way to completely shut off in-app purchases? I'm completely against the entire premise of it. I despise freemium.
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It's in the restriction settings I believe. I shut them off on all the iPhone's and iPads in the house. Kids.


Settings....general.....restrictions.....scroll down
 
C

Chilloo

macrumors newbie
Feb 13, 2015
1
0
Why are so many posters against IAP? The devs that offer IAP have families to feed too. If they feel that IAP will offer a higher revenue stream, what harm is that?

If the negative comments are more about the amount wasted on a well-designed but mediocre game, well that's just the reality of all creative industries: the generic, bland, mass appeal stuff tends to be what makes most money.
 
sracer

sracer

macrumors G4
Apr 9, 2010
10,284
13,017
where hip is spoken
Chilloo said:
Why are so many posters against IAP? The devs that offer IAP have families to feed too. If they feel that IAP will offer a higher revenue stream, what harm is that?

If the negative comments are more about the amount wasted on a well-designed but mediocre game, well that's just the reality of all creative industries: the generic, bland, mass appeal stuff tends to be what makes most money.
Click to expand...
Maybe because they lack the self-control to avoid indulging in IAP, or they have kids who access their devices unsupervised and rack up purchases.

I've never bought an IAP for a game. I play Candy Crush Saga (I enjoy the mindlessness of it) and never felt the need to purchase anything.

In one sense, Apple is to blame because they don't offer the option for "demos" and they probably receive a cut from every IAP and have a vested interest in allowing that option.
 
Traverse

Traverse

macrumors 604
Mar 11, 2013
7,688
4,400
Here
sracer said:
In one sense, Apple is to blame because they don't offer the option for "demos" and they probably receive a cut from every IAP and have a vested interest in allowing that option.
Click to expand...

I don't mind one reasonable IAP that substitutes for a demo app. Give users a free app to test it and unlock everything for $0.99-$2.99. I've paid a large amount of money (for phone apps) to try an app that disappointed me. A demo would have fixed that.
 
Jessica Lares

Jessica Lares

macrumors G3
Oct 31, 2009
9,612
1,056
Near Dallas, Texas, USA
My mom buys IAP all the time. My brother would do the same thing if he had a credit card on file on his account too. I took mine off the first time I saw him do it, and I don't let my mom use my card anymore because she was just racking them up.

Most of the people who do it have no value of money. If they weren't spending the little they have on this stuff, they'd find somewhere else to throw it away on. It's not like G5 Games, Big Fish, and all those other publishers that have like hundreds of games haven't been doing the same thing over the years.

It's a business model, and it works. I don't agree with it, but I'm already doing something about it by making sure I'm not wasting my time with them myself. Everyone in my house already thinks I'm weird, lecturing them on this stuff won't do anything except make me walk out of the room very angry for even trying.
 
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