Instead of allowing games to post spam all over walls and notify other players freely of every small bit of activity, Facebook has scaled down over the last 4 years the impact of facebook connect. Facebook’s strategy dramatically shifted for games after Candy Crush. While socially connected players tend to retain longer (they see their friends progress) - players are less and less likely to opt-in to that kind of peer pressure on mobile. Players are less likely to connect their games, even when games offer big rewards for connecting. The biggest shift that has changed since Candy Crush Saga first came out is that friends within games, especially through facebook connect, have become decreasingly important.įor one, facebook connection has gone steadily down since 2012. But why is it that Peak Games, the last developer to have found success with the “pure” saga model, opted for a radically different design in Toon Blast? Well, the top developers are abandoning pure Saga model due to two reasons. Being able to retain players that lapse from your hit games by cross-promoting them to your new exciting games is powerful. King and Playrix have done the same with their top franchises with clear success. It’s an obvious safe bet to repurpose the gameplay they already have. Much to the credit of their team, they managed through methodical improvements and strong performance marketing to build Toy Blast into the success it is today.Īfter the success of Toy Blast, it was no wonder that Peak Games started work on Toon Blast. But unlike most top grossing games, it was clear that Peak Games had a slow and steady growth to the top. Toy Blast grew to be a sticky top grossing puzzle game. Toy Blast, launched in 2015, featured a pure saga model, but with a new yet familiar take on the core mechanic. Peak Games was one of the few who did see success with the Saga framework. Some saw modest success with it, while others did not. It’s a clear an obvious trend that as time went on, the biggest games in the genre managed to add new elements to the metagame which separated them from the usual Saga-based model.īut during that time, most matching game companies stuck to the pure Saga framework.
In 2016 Playrix launched Gardenscapes, already deconstructed here, which added narrative and decoration to the saga metagame. In 2015 Playrix launched Fishdom, where players could collect fish and decorate their fish tanks.
Also in 2014, Seriously launched Best Fiends, which added a light RPG upgrade system on top of the core mechanic. Players collected resources to eventually be able to afford to move through gates. In 2014 there was Gummy Drop by Big Fish Games, which added a dash of resource management to the saga framework.
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