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Candy Crush Saga is earning $200m+ a year
- daspion 13y agoHowever, like most app games that potential revenue isn't sustainable. Users stop downloading, stop playing, stop paying. Some new app game comes along and users move on.
- brown9-2 13y agoEspecially considering the game has been available on smartphones for less than a year
- coldtea 13y agoThat's a nice problem to have. After my company gets our "$200m+ a year", I would think of something else to sell. Or not.
- pdog 13y agoTwo other options are selling the company or an IPO.
- hatu 13y agoThis is one thing that bothers me about Zynga et al. The entertainment business has always been like this, you can't have a movie run in the theaters for years on end. I don't think why they think a game will work differently if the put enough analytics in it.
- objclxt 13y agoYou can't have the same movie run for years (well, unless it's Rocky Horror), but you can have the same premise. In the same way you can have the same kind of game (Farmville -> Cityville, etc etc) but with a different setting, look, etc.
- masukomi 13y agoso tired of "Infographics" that are just text articles with an excessive number of pictures inserted. Makes for a worse article and never actually uses graphics to represent information.
- ghshephard 13y agoThis is perhaps the most depressing article I've seen posted on HN in a few months. I have to believe that the vast majority of that $200mm is a function of coercive revenue strategy as illuminated so well here: http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/RaminShokrizade/20130626/194933/ http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/RaminShokrizade/20130626/1949... These games prey on those least equipped to understand how their fears/desires are being exploited, and it's a shame to see they are being rewarded so well in doing so.
- areeved 13y agoYou mean the same way that fashion and automobile companies prey on those who want cars and clothes to combat their own desires or fears (e.g. lack of self-esteem)? Shameful.
- toble 13y agoIt's all relative, including everyone's perception of ethics. This 'game' sounds more like a fruit/slot machine, but much more sophisticated and accessible.
- jacques_chester 13y agoGambling and addictive drugs are regulated because, ultimately, they rely on a clear failure mode in cognition. Collapse the action-reward feedback loop and you run the risk of losing a productive member of society. It passes from internally negative to a proper externality. Governments are interested in the latter. No, there isn't a clear categorisation rule to say what's exploitative and what's just people who need to take responsibility for their own actions. That's because the world is fuzzy and isn't made of syllogisms.
- chongli 13y agoGambling and addictive drugs are regulated because, ultimately, they rely on a clear failure mode in cognition. This is the official line; it's not the real reason. The real reason has a lot more to do with racism (in the case of drugs), cronyism, pork-barrel politics and protectionism.
- bsaul 13y agoNow let's have 10 seconds of silence for all the newly computer science graduates that, after reading that article, will try to launch their own games on app stores in the hope of replicating that business model. Only to realize after a while that they're statistically about as likely to succeed as winning at the lottery.
- marcofloriano 13y agoMy brother (who is graduating on CS next year) asked me back a while (i already have graduated years ago) what´s the point on being a computer expert today: in his vision it´s about making tons o shit that nobody wants (like ads systems and addict useless apps). I still have no answer for him.
- beaker52 13y agoConsider pornography: + Huge industry + An illusionary experience which brings joy + Prays on man's desires and drives and the inclination of man to give in to them
- makomk 13y agoPornography's not (in general) dishonest or manipulative in the same way that games like Candy Crush Saga are; customers know what they're paying for up-front and get it.