VIP Program and External Store

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Candy Crush Saga‘s Candy Crush Royalty is a VIP program that requires players to visit a website in order to sign up and collect rewards. Once players are on the site, they can easily access a store that includes exclusive purchase offers.

Candy Crush Royalty and its associated web store have been around since December 2021, but Candy Crush Saga recently added an in-app link for certain players that opens the VIP area of the website. Although Apple has allowed certain streaming apps to link to external web stores, this is the first example we’ve seen of a prominent gaming app doing so.

We’re still looking into whether this move reflects a change in policy from Apple, a private agreement between Apple and King (the publisher of Candy Crush Saga), or simply a bold move from King.

Soft-Launch Apps

Scopely’s Monopoly GO combines a major IP with Coin Master-inspired gameplay. Although Scopely is a top-tier board game app developer, no one has been able to compete with Coin Master yet—they still own 91% of the revenue in the social casino market.

Playtika’s entry into the merge subgenre, Merge Stories, is a new kind of puzzle RPG that uses merge and tactical mechanics instead of match-3 puzzles and turn-based combat. It’s hard to think of any direct competitors, which is a big point in Merge Stories‘ favor.

Features and Events

New feature and event releases this month include a competition with an endless level in Angry Birds Dream Blast, an innovative two-stage battle passin Homescapes, and an unusually deep flower-growing event in Solitaire Cruise Tripeaks.

Download the September Casual Report for our complete analysis.